Market Commentary

As you may recall from my investment update last month, September proved to be a very hard month for stock market investors. Yet, the real story for equity investors developed in October. Equity markets plunged around the globe as the credit crisis spread worldwide. Remarkably, markets lost an additional 15 to 20% of value in October alone.  
The following table shows year-to-date results as of October 31st for some important market indicators: 
Year-to-date 
NASDAQ Composite -35.1% 
S&P 500 -32.8% 
Average Domestic Equity Fund -34.7% 
Average International Fund -44.6% 
 
Fortunately, allocating a large portion of your portfolio to cash (money market funds) prevented losses of anywhere near that magnitude. 
 
Of course, no one likes losses of any size, but in a market like this, the performance of your account can be considered good news. Hopefully, this has given you some peace of mind, knowing it could have been much worse. Also, Fortress preserved your capital to take advantage of the next meaningful market advance. 
 
Market declines this year have been hard on many investors. If you have additional assets that need the more personal attention and protection I strive to provide, please let me know. Also, if you know of others who may be looking for this kind of protection in their investment portfolios, I would be pleased to visit with them.