Letter – 2008 Q4
The best thing I can say about 2008 is that it is over. The second best thing I can say is that we were fairly defensive, and even though our results are disappointing in absolute terms, they are better than most broad-based
Institutional sophistication. Individual attention.
The best thing I can say about 2008 is that it is over. The second best thing I can say is that we were fairly defensive, and even though our results are disappointing in absolute terms, they are better than most broad-based
October was a very difficult month, but we were quite conservatively postured through it. I won’t go into a very detailed analysis of economic and market forces in this letter; rather I’ll keep the focus on how we managed your money. As
This was a quarter in which the rules changed. Earnings power meant little or nothing in the financial sector; it was all about assets, not income. The landscape on Wall Street has been fundamentally altered; there are no longer any major independent
Due to the worst percentage drop in the month of June since 1930, the S&P 500 Index lost 2.7% in the past quarter. We did appreciably better, as your account lost 0.2%. We outperformed because we were reasonably aggressive in the early
When a whirlwind takes out a major investment bank that survived the Great Depression, you know you are in a bad market. At the same time, it is a reasonable bet that the precipitous fall of Bear Stearns was the eye wall
When a whirlwind takes out a major investment bank that survived the Great Depression, you know you are in a bad market. At the same time, it is a reasonable bet that the precipitous fall of Bear Stearns was the eye wall
The stock market as measured by the S&P 500 Index had a total return of 5.49 % in 2007. But it was a bumpier ride than usual, and the returns of other indexes and types of stocks varied considerably. The Nasdaq Composite
The stock market was more of a roller coaster than usual this quarter. The mini-panic hit the stock market suddenly and violently in late July. The S&P 500 Index fell from a closing high of 1553.08 on July 19 to an intraday
The stock market is up over 6% so far this year as measured by the S&P 500 Index, and our returns are even better. The market has been strong despite increases in interest rates, oil prices and our trade deficit and a
The average pundit surveyed by Business Week for their January 1 issue predicted that the S&P 500 would reach 1501 by the end of 2007, up from 1418 at the end of 2006. By February 20, we were already halfway there –