Market Movements since February 29, 2008
February 29, 2012
The dollar is 22.4% weaker against the yen but 13.2% stronger relative to the euro since the last Sadie Hawkins Day. Ten-year sovereign debt yields have declined by 204 basis points in Germany, 167 bps in the United States, and 40 bps in Japan. The 30-year Treasury yields has dropped 142 basis points. Oil prices were elevated four years ago, too, and are just 5.2% higher now than then. By comparison, gold prices have soared 83.5% despite a 1.6% annualized rate of U.S. core consumer price inflation. The Chicago purchasing managers index for February 2008, announced on the final day of the month, had a reading of 44.5, lowest since December 2001. Today’s Chicago PMI for February 2012 carried a score of 61.3, 1.1 points higher than for January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 indices have on net climbed 6.1% and 3.3%, but for investors prescient enough to buy shares of Apple, Inc. on February 29, 2008, a cumulative gain of 335.6%, or 44.5% per annum has been made.
Copyright 2012, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
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