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- Dan Junkin

By The Numbers - First Quarter, 2008

Karen Foust

Regardless of whether you examine large caps, small caps, growth, value, domestic or international, continued market uncertainty and talk of a recession have taken a toll on this quarter’s equity returns. The S&P wrapped up the 1st quarter at -9.45%, a 6% decline from the 4th quarter 2007.

Comparing large cap stocks with small cap stocks this quarter, large caps finished slightly ahead of small caps with a quarterly return of -9.49%.

While growth funds outperformed value for the final two quarters of 2007, value made a comeback this quarter returning -8.72% versus growth’s -10.18%.

Taking a look at how International equities and fixed income performed when compared with domestic equities, fixed income led the way at 3.02%. Domestic and International equities lagged this quarter returning -9.61% and -8.83%.

Lastly, consumer confidence as reported by Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers has decreased yet another quarter. Consumer confidence for this quarter is reported to be 64.5, which is a 23 point decline from March of 2007. This decline is attributed to market instability and the views on the job market, business conditions and consumer wealth. Despite the anticipation of the soon arriving stimulus package, consumers are not feeling confident that better days are near.

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