As Labor Day approaches, it’s safe to say it was a forgettable summer for The Examiner Top 10.
When the stock market closed Friday before the holiday weekend, seven of the 10 stocks in the portfolio had slumped through the months of June, July and August.
“One of the largest known negatives — a bear market — has reared its head,” said E. William Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC. “Even though the market has recovered somewhat from its recent worst levels, the S&P 500 officially signaled a bear market in mid-July, when it was down more than 20 percent from the October 2007 high.”
Ciena Corp., Constellation Energy, Provident and Legg Mason all saw their stock prices take double-digit-percentage hits over the summer months. Ciena has slipped 43 percent since the beginning of June, followed by Constellation (22 percent), Provident (19 percent) and Legg Mason (17 percent).
Northrop Grumman (down 9 percent), Verizon (8 percent) and Under Armour (4 percent) all endured modest losses in the June-to-August period.
The summer winners include Southwest (up 17 percent), Lockheed Martin (7 percent) and T. Rowe Price (2 percent). Southwest, the largest air carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, last week announced it was cutting 196 flights, including 14 at BWI, effective Jan. 11.
The question now for investors is will the fall and winter months outperform the summer months? News that personal incomes fell by 0.7 percent in July — the largest drop in nearly three years — and consumer spending slowed sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 100 points during Friday trading.
Wall Street has been particularly concerned about Americans’ ability to help the economy grow, as high prices for gas and food have strapped many household budgets.
“My biggest concern with the income data is that we’re getting off to a weak start to the third quarter,” said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC. “The income numbers are a reminder that the economy is going to look worse before it gets better.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Examiner Top 10
Friday’s Closings
| name | purchas price |
close Aug. 29 |
change | percent change |
| Ciena Corp. | $33.78 | $17.38 | -$16.40 | -48.6 |
| Constellation Energy | $102.13 | $66.71 | -$35.42 | -34.7 |
| Legg Mason | $73.25 | $44.53 | -$28.72 | -39.2 |
| Lockheed Martin | $105.77 | $116.44 | $10.67 | 10.1 |
| Northrop Grumman | $78.74 | $68.85 | -$9.89 | -12.6 |
| Provident Bankshares | $21.43 | $7.71 | -$13.72 | -64 |
| Southwest Airlines | $12.18 | $15.23 | $3.05 | 25 |
| T. Rowe Price Group | $59.80 | $59.36 | -$0.44 | -0.7 |
| Under Armour | $43.69 | $33.71 | -$9.98 | -22.8 |
| Verizon | $43.90 | $35.12 | -$8.78 | -20 |
The Examiner Top 10 portfolio began Jan. 2, the first trading day of the year, with the hypothetical purchase of one share in each company.
