Stocks of many of largest corps. down 20 to 30% in last 7 months

[JPZenger]

http://quicktake.morningstar.com/index/Holdings.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=SPX

The weakness of the stock market not only affects big investors. It also affects retirement funds, college savings accounts, pension funds and finances of your local and state government (who may need to put more money into their pension funds).

Many of the largest corporations in the US have seen a 20 to 30% reduction in their stock price in just the last 7 months. Some major companies are down 50% in that time, such as Wachovia Bank. One of the few exceptions is Walmart.

Top 25 Holdings YTD Return %

ExxonMobil Corporation* -17.5
General Electric Company* -22.4
Microsoft Corporation* -28.4
Procter & Gamble Company* -8.8
Johnson & Johnson* 4.83

AT&T, Inc.* -25.0
International Business Machines Corp* 18.9
Chevron Corporation* -10.0
Bank of America Corporation* -17.9
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.* -5.4

Apple, Inc.* -22.6
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.* 24.0
Cisco Systems, Inc.* -18.7
Intel Corporation* -14.4
Pfizer Inc.* -13.9

ConocoPhillips* -7.8
Hewlett-Packard Company* -12.6
Google, Inc.* -33.0

PepsiCo, Inc.* -9.8
Coca-Cola Company* -11.0
Citigroup, Inc.* -33.4
Wells Fargo Company* 2.0
Verizon Communications Inc.* -19.5

[KharmaTrain]

1. This Is Slamming Private Colleges

Many schools rely on endowments invested in the markets to keep tuitions down or to help students get loans and grants. A tight market is going to squeeze more out of college as costs will have to rise and loans and grants dry up. Add this to the overall credit crunch that is making it difficult for public college students to get loans and we could see a big decline in enrollments this year.

A lot depends also depends on who you're investing with and how your money is invested. Anyone who has a majority of their funds in the market deserves to get nailed...the "smart" money took to the sidelines months ago into CDs and Annuities. Not that anything is totally safe these days, but those who have played it smart have kept their losses to a minimum and are still ahead on what they had a couple years ago.