The Nest Egg
Apr 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am by Susie
Remeber Albert Brooks’ brilliant “Lost in America”? “You stand under the nest egg, and when it rains, you don’t get wet…” Nest eggs aren’t doing so hot lately:
SO far, not so good. The year began with the worst quarter for the stock market in six years, a decline of more than 9 percent in the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index.
The average equity fund recorded a loss of 9.0 percent, so the statements that investors receive this month from the companies that manage their money will not make for pleasant reading. Yet with all the problems afflicting the economy, financial system and markets, there may also be some relief that the results were no worse.
“Consumers have record debt, home prices are falling, jobs are harder to come by, we’re paying more at supermarkets and the gas pump than we have in a long time,” said Russ Koesterich, senior portfolio manager at Barclays Global Investors. “It’s a combination of events that is finally starting to take a toll.”
