We had a wild February in the markets, with the subprime virus infecting anything in its sight. Most of the wild fluctuations were in the credit markets, which spilled over into the stock market. Most of the economic news was negative with debate centering on the severity of any recession. Further writedowns by the banks, along with daily rumours regarding the bond insurers, ensured an uncertain market.
Commodities and gold were star performers this month, with the two best S&P 500 sectors being materials and energy. Information technology, which some thought would avoid the subprime and other credit probems, was a poor performer, along with telecom and financials.
Most of our contestants underperformed the market by a wide margin and are deeply in negative territory. Only 3 contestants are posting positive returns so far. Congratulations to 0Brian0 for snatching the lead from kxtoh, who falls to second place. HerbDeno rounds out the top 3 with a positive return.
Dow Jones Global Total Market TR: -7.8%
S&P 500 TR: -9.1%
Best Sectors: Materials (-2.25%), Energy (-4.99%), Consumer Discretionary (-5.34%)
Worst Sectors: Telecom (-18.53%), Info Tech (16.14%), Financials (-11.97%)
February Rankings
| 1 (12) | 0Brian0 | 3.1 |
| 2 (1) | kxtoh | 3.0 |
| 3 (11) | HerbDeno | 2.9 |
| 4 (6) | Guzzo11 | -0.3 |
| 5 (19) | JohnDough | -1.0 |
| 6 (22) | ogadeni | -2.3 |
| 7 (20) | ashen | -2.5 |
| 8 (5) | sand04 | -3.2 |
| 9 (21) | HarveyinFL | -5.5 |
| 10 (13) | chipmunk | -5.5 |
| 11 (14) | NickDrake | -6.4 |
| 12 (7) | EagleTed | -6.4 |
| 13 (10) | SiskiU | -6.8 |
| 14 (8) | Santa Cruz | -7.2 |
| 15 (16) | DRiP Guy | -7.5 |
| 16 (26) | topaz2250 | -9.2 |
| 17 (31) | frogfan | -9.5 |
| 18 (32) | WERman | -9.8 |
| 19 (17) | rascfw | -9.9 |
| 20 (27) | WAR1209 | -11.1 |
| 21 (4) | jcimasi | -11.5 |
| 22 (18) | asi12 | -11.9 |
| 23 (3) | judyken | -12.5 |
| 24 (24) | oppeg | -13.6 |
| 25 (15) | Blooskye66 | -14.3 |
| 26 (9) | KoalaBear33 | -14.4 |
| 27 (28) | gladiator05 | -14.4 |
| 28 (38) | Hombre Munchkin | -15.0 |
| 29 (25) | bobbinm | -15.0 |
| 30 (23) | snowape | -15.1 |
| 31 (29) | carfau | -15.1 |
| 32 (33) | TheOne | -15.4 |
| 33 (37) | strider | -15.7 |
| 34 (2) | sasol | -16.9 |
| 35 (36) | bevandmichael | -18.7 |
| 36 (30) | gbushue | -18.9 |
| 37 (39) | fredP | -20.2 |
| 38 (34) | BrassTax | -20.9 |
| 39 (35) | Boliche | -27.9 |
February Gainers
| YHOO | HerbDeno | 44.8 |
| ACH | strider | 34.6 |
| BIDZ | TheOne | 31.5 |
| MOS | ogadeni & frogfan | 22.4 |
| PCU | 0Brian3 | 21.4 |
| SNDA | strider | 20.3 |
| DAR | ogadeni | 19.4 |
| YTEC | JohnDough | 19.3 |
| RIC | Guzzo14 | 18.3 |
| URRE | Hombre Munchkin | 16.9 |
February Losers
| SIGM | Boliche | -34.8 |
| SMSI | snowape | -32.0 |
| STP | Boliche | -32.0 |
| DIVX | jcimasi | -31.0 |
| CROX | gbushue | -30.1 |
| WM | judyken & sasol | -25.5 |
| SNCR | WAR1212 | -24.5 |
| N | bevandmichael | -23.5 |
| PMI | judyken & BrassTax & sasol | -23.5 |
| RDN | ogadeni | -22.0 |
Top 10 YTD
| ZMH | HerbDeno | 13.8 |
| BIDZ | TheOne | 13.9 |
| VPHM | snowape | 15.4 |
| RIC | Guzzo14 | 17.5 |
| MOS | ogadeni & frogfan | 18.0 |
| SPN | WAR1209 | 18.2 |
| YHOO | HerbDeno | 19.4 |
| DAR | ogadeni | 20.2 |
| PHM | KoalaBear36 | 28.5 |
| YTEC | JohnDough | 30.3 |
Bottom 10 YTD
| ABK | KoalaBear33 | -56.8 |
| YGE | strider | -56.4 |
| STP | Boliche | -54.8 |
| SNCR | WAR1212 | -54.6 |
| SIGM | Boliche | -46.6 |
| N | bevandmichael | -46.4 |
| PMI | judyken & BrassTax & sasol | -45.3 |
| BE | snowape | -42.8 |
| CY | fredP | -39.7 |
| SMSI | snowape | -39.6 |
Notes:
- There was a mistake in the January results (SiskiU's stocks had a split that wasn't accounted for) so the January rankings shifted down by one for most of you. I'll be checking more thorougly for stock splits in the future but do point out any mistakes.
- Susan had a question about dividends showing up in Morningstar portfolio but not in my listing. It looks like dividends are being credited on the ex-div date whereas I credit on the payment date (and the stock was purchased before ex-div). For example, a lot of the contestants' holdings had ex-div dates in February but their payment date is in March so they will only be credited next month.
- Prior month's ranking is in brackets in the list above.
