Here are the details:

Dow Industrials

  • Down 1082.61 points this quarter, or -10.0%, to close at 9774.02.
  • Worst quarterly performance since the 1st quarter of 2009.
  • Year-to-date = -6.3%

Nasdaq Composite

  • Down 288.72 points this quarter, or -12.0%, to close at 2109.24.
  • Worst quarterly performance since the 4th quarter of 2008.
  • Year-to-date = -7.1%

S&P 500

  • Down 138.72 points this quarter, or -11.9% to close at 1030.71.
  • Worst quarterly performance since the 4th quarter of 2008.
  • Year-to-date = -7.6%

Source

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Rags to Riches

by Tony Hixon on June 24, 2010

in fun

According to Merrill Lynch-Capgemini, the world’s rich got richer in 2009.  The number of millionaires climbed 17% in ’09 to 10 million.  Their total wealth climbed 19% to $39 trillion, nearly recovering losses suffered during the recession.  The U.S. had 2.87 millionaires followed by Japan at 1.65 million, Germany at 861,000 and China at 477,000.

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Point to Ponder – Debt Load

May 24, 2010

An article from Brian Wesbury’s team crossed my desk today that caught me scratching my head.  I had never thought about the US debt problem this way before.  I let you read and ponder… “…yes, government is growing like crazy and deficits are huge (unbelievably huge).  But this does not guarantee collapse.  The US still [...]

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What’s a Trillion?

April 7, 2010
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In today’s financial headlines – the word Trillion is often casually thrown around. So much so, that it’s easy to lose perspective on how much money this really represents. Picture a stack of $100 bills. It might surprise you to know that it only takes a stack four inches high to be worth $100,000. So [...]

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Q1-2010: Stocks Were Up For The 4th Quarter In A Row

April 1, 2010
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The stock market extended it’s rally for the fourth quarter in a row. Here are the details: Dow Industrials Up 429.58 points this quarter, or 4.1%, to close at 10856.63. Best 1st quarter performance since 1999. March was the best month for the Dow since November 2009. Nasdaq Composite Up 128.81 points this quarter, or [...]

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2010 Retirement Contribution Limits

March 26, 2010

TYPE OF LIMIT 2010 LIMIT Defined Contribution Plans $49,000 Elective Deferrals to 401(k) and 403(b) Plans $16,500 457(b)(2) and 457(c)1) Limits $16,500 Catch-Up Deferrals to 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) or SARSEP Plans $5,500 Defined Benefit Plans $195,000 Annual Eligible Compensation Limit $245,000 Highly Compensated Employees $110,000 Uni-k Plan Deferral Limit Under Age 50 $16,500 Uni-k Plan [...]

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Retirement Confidence

March 17, 2010

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) just released the results of its annual “Retirement Confidence Survey” and one of the more startling findings was that 27% of working Americans say they have less than $1,000 in retirement savings, up from 20% a year ago, according to FOXBusiness.com. For the second consecutive year, nearly 50% of [...]

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One Year Ago Today

March 9, 2010
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Today is March 9th. Do you remember where you were one year ago today? I do. It was a Monday.  I was sitting in my office answering phone calls. Phone calls from a couple of clients who just reviewed their February account statements over the weekend. February, 2009 was one of the worst months for stocks since [...]

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Best Year for Stocks Since 1942

February 10, 2010

“What do you think the best year for the market has been since 1942?  The answer is 1954.  In 1954, the Dow, counting dividends, was up 50%.  Now if you look at 1954, we were in a recession a good bit of that time.  The recession started in July of 1953.  Unemployment peaked in September [...]

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Global Inflation Rates

January 28, 2010

There has been a lot of talk about the possibility of rising inflation in the US. Warren Buffet believes that inflation is a real threat.  We have also blogged about it quite a bit.  See our list of previous posts below for further reading. So far, inflation has remained stable.  Compared to the rest of the world [...]

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