Stock Index, S&P Sector & Bond Index performance numbers, week ending 10/10/2008

[A HERETIC I AM]

                                STOCK INDEX PERFORMANCE

Index                               Week      YTD      12-mo.    2007     5-yr.
DOW JONES 30 (8451)               -18.09%   -34.96%   -38.37%    8.88%   -0.38%
S&P 500 (899)                     -18.14%   -37.71%   -41.20%    5.49%   -0.98%
NASDAQ 100 (1270)                 -13.66%   -38.88%   -41.37%   19.24%   -1.59%
S&P 500/Citigroup Growth          -17.70%   -36.90%   -39.12%    9.25%   -2.20%
S&P 500/Citigroup Value           -18.63%   -38.56%   -43.26%    2.03%    0.24%
S&P MidCap 400/Citigroup Growth   -17.10%   -36.68%   -39.56%   13.55%    0.60%
S&P MidCap 400/Citigroup Value    -16.75%   -33.68%   -38.73%    2.84%    2.78%
S&P SmallCap600/Citigroup Growth  -14.29%   -28.97%   -35.93%    5.66%    3.39%
S&P SmallCap600/Citigroup Value   -15.26%   -26.98%   -34.66%   -5.19%    3.48%
MSCI EAFE                         -21.70%   -44.63%   -46.67%   11.76%    3.57%
MSCI World (ex US)                -21.80%   -44.52%   -46.52%   13.04%    3.94%
MSCI World                        -20.02%   -41.35%   -43.98%    9.69%    1.39%
MSCI Emerging Markets             -20.18%   -51.58%   -52.36%   39.23%   10.06%

Source: Bloomberg. Returns are total returns. The 5-yr. return is an average annual.
One-week,YTD, 12-mo. and 5-yr. performance returns calculated through 10/10/08.

                            S&P SECTOR PERFORMANCE

Index                        Week      YTD      12-mo.     2007     5-yr.
Consumer Discretionary     -18.25%   -34.85%   -43.16%   -13.21%   -5.21%
Consumer Staples           -15.93%   -18.98%   -16.29%    14.36%    4.45%
Energy                     -25.03%   -43.21%   -41.78%    34.41%   12.64%
Financials                 -22.35%   -48.28%   -57.18%   -18.52%   -8.72%
Health Care                -18.38%   -29.85%   -31.49%     7.32%   -1.14%
Industrials                -11.47%   -37.23%   -40.87%    12.04%    1.43%
Information Technology     -14.31%   -39.12%   -41.03%    16.30%   -3.59%
Materials                  -15.27%   -39.88%   -41.26%    22.53%    4.16%
Telecom Services           -18.50%   -43.13%   -46.11%    11.88%    1.90%
Utilities                  -20.20%   -38.24%   -35.57%    19.38%    6.69%

Source: Bloomberg. Returns are total returns. The 5-yr. return is an average annual.
One-week,YTD, 12-mo. and 5-yr. performance returns calculated through 10/10/08.

                                 BOND INDEX PERFORMANCE

Index                                   Week      YTD      12-mo.   2007    5-yr.
U.S. Treasury: Intermediate            -0.44%     5.20%     9.28%   8.83%   4.30%
GNMA 30 Year                           -1.60%     2.30%     5.56%   6.97%   4.61%
U.S. Aggregate                         -1.98%    -0.73%     2.30%   6.97%   3.72%
U.S. Corporate High Yield             -10.69%   -22.67%   -24.38%   1.88%   1.07%
U.S. Corporate Investment Grade        -4.17%   -12.16%   -10.72%   4.56%   0.93%
Municipal Bond: Long Bond (22+)        -8.24%   -16.81%   -16.52%   0.46%   1.09%
Global Aggregate                       -1.34%    -1.80%     1.79%   9.48%   4.42%

Source: Lehman Bros. Returns include reinvested interest.The 5-yr.return is an average annual.
One-week,YTD, 12-mo. and 5-yr. performance returns calculated through 10/10/08.

                          KEY RATES

                          As of 10/10                 
Fed Funds               1.50%     5-YR CD         4.05%
LIBOR (1-month)         4.14%     2-YR Note       1.63%
CPI - Headline          5.40%     5-YR Note       2.75%
CPI - Core              2.50%    10-YR T-Bond     3.87%
Money Market Accts.     2.41%    30-YR T-Bond     4.13%
Money Market Funds      1.72%    30-YR Mortgage   5.74%
6-mo. CD                3.15%    Prime Rate       4.50%
1-YR CD                 3.62%    Bond Buyer 40    6.54%

Sources: Bankrate.com, iMoneyNet.com and Bloomberg

                         WEEKLY FUND FLOWS

                     Week of 10/09    Previous
Equity Funds            -$2.4 B        $9.1 B
Including ETF activity, Domestic funds reporting net inflows of
$28.156 B and Non-domestic funds reporting net outflows of -$30.526 B.
Bond Funds               $7.0 B       -$5.4 B
Municipal Bond Funds   $5.195 B       -$848 M
Money Markets        -$44.350 B      $4.396 B
General MM funds report record net cash outflows of -$429.920 B and
Government MM funds report record net cash inflows of $384.071 B, the
largest reallocation and flight to quality in history.                  (Bold emphasis mine)

Source: AMG Data Services

FACTOIDS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 6TH - OCTOBER 10TH

Monday, October 6, 2008
Approximately 7,000 publicly owned companies report dividend information to
Standard & Poor's Dividend Record. In Q3'08, 346 companies increased their
dividend distributions – a 21.2% decline from the 439 increases registered in
Q3'07, according to S&P. Overall, dividend payments fell by $22.5 billion.
Financials accounted for nearly two-thirds of the dividend cuts and 93% of the
drop in payments, according to Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at
S&P. Silverblatt noted that this was the worst September for stock dividends
since the firm started keeping records in 1956.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Barring a major rally before year end, this will only be the third time since
1900 that the DJIA posted a negative return (excluding dividends) over the
first nine years of a decade (currently at -13%), according to Bespoke
Investment Group. The other two were 1910-1918 (-17%) and 1930-1938 (-
38%).

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
As many as 500 hedge funds could exit the business by the end of 2008,
according to Kiplinger. It estimates another 1,000 will fall in 2009. There are
approximately 10,200 hedge funds overseeing $2 trillion. Tough sledding in
the credit/derivatives markets and a temporary ban on the short selling of
stocks has made it difficult for hedge fund managers to generate gains. The
annual redemption season for hedge funds commenced at the end of
September.

Thursday, October 9, 2008
The global speculative-grade default rate stood at 2.8% in September, up
from 2.7% in August, according to Moody's. The rate was 1.3% a year ago.
Moody's is now forecasting the rate will rise to 7.9% by September 2009.
The U.S. speculative-grade default rate stood at 3.4% in September, up from
3.3% in August. The rate was 1.2% a year ago. Moody's is now forecasting
the rate will rise to 5.1% by the end of 2008. The historical average is
approximately 5.0%. The default rate on senior loans rose from 3.27% in
August to 3.47% as of the first week of October, according to Standard &
Poor's LCD. The rate was 0.26% (record-low) at the end of 2007. The
historical average is 2.97%.

Friday, October 10, 2008
Yesterday’s close marked the one-year anniversary of the peak in the S&P
500. Over the past 12 months, the S&P 500 declined by 40.6%. Since 1926,
the average bear market has reflected a 33.5% decline in the S&P 500,
according to Jim Stack, president of InvesTech Research. The average P/E
ratio for the stocks in the S&P 500 based on 2009 earnings expectations is
now estimated to be 11.9, according to Bespoke Investment Group. Currently,
48% of the stocks in the index have an estimated P/E of less than 10. Since
1926, the average P/E for the index has been around 15.

The above was gathered by and posted from
FIRST TRUST ADVISORS L.P. • APPROVED FOR PUBLIC USE • 10/13/08

Web link to this and all previous weekly information is here

[Common Sense Party]

1. Yowch. Look at S&P Value. There are some good bargains there.

For everyone worried that the sky is absolutely falling in the U.S. stock market--take a look at international. Not just emerging markets, but the whole MSCI. Wow.

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Yup. While one should take these figures for exactly what they're worth.......

there are some telling numbers. If one holds to the adage "Buy Low, Sell High" it is hard to ignore certain trends established by this data on a weekly basis.

In other words, it's getting damned close to the time to load up on some Consumer Discretionary and Financial issues.