Financial Markets For 2008

   The financial  markets couldn't bid farewell to 2008 fast enough after suffering some of the biggest losses ever in modern time.

  Standard & Poor's 500 suffered its biggest losses since 1937, losing 38.5%.

   The Dow Jones Industrial Average?  It didn't do much better either, suffering a 33.8% drop in 2008. That was the worst drop for the DJIA since 1931.

    The Nasdaq composite index was the worst performing of all 3 indexes, dropping 40.5%.

    It was the S&P's third worst year, the second worst for the Dow and the worst ever for the Nasdaq.   

•Broad and biting. A vast majority, 1,316 or nearly 9 out of 10 stocks in the S&P 1500, lost value in 2008, according to data from S&P's Capital IQ. And on average, the losers are off 42.3%. Meanwhile, 469 members of the S&P 500 fell last year.

•Jarring volatility. The market posted its best percentage day, on Oct. 13, as well as five of its worst, based on the DJ Wilshire 5000 index, which is one of the broadest measures of the U.S. market. And $6.9 trillion in market value was wiped out.     USAToday

   Investors and most brokers are hoping that 2009 is better for them, obviously. But that ain't going to happen without some added deregulation to Wall Street, for starters.

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