PhillyTablet Inquirer Daily News
Mobile
Home Delivery
philly.com
email
font size
comments
0
options
 
Thursday, October 1, 2009

3rd quarter's winners and losers

A year ago, I had little inclination to reflect on the stock market’s winners and losers for the third quarter.

With the financial crisis escalating and panic in the markets, it seemed like a worthless exercise when trillions of dollars of net worth were disappearing.

Today, the major equity indexes remain below their levels of a year ago. But they’ve come a long way back during 2009. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is up 17 percent so far in 2009. It rose 15 percent in the third quarter.

Regionally, the pattern is similiar as reflected by the Inquirer/Bloomberg Philadelphia Index. The index of 193 companies either based in the region or with significant operations here has risen 12 percent in 2009 and 14 percent in the third quarter.

The top three gainers among local stocks that started the quarter with a price of more than $3 per share were: Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. (up 79 percent), Resource Capital Corp. (up 76 percent) and Quaker Chemical Corp. (up 68 percent.)

That’s an interesting group because it indicates stirring in the battered sectors of manufacturing and finance. Kulicke & Soffa, of Fort Washington, makes equipment used in the semiconductor industry. Resource Capital focuses on commercial real estate finance. Quaker Chemical, of Conshohocken, manufactures specialty chemicals.

At the other end of the scale, shares of Republic First Bancorp Inc. were down 41 percent - the biggest decline for any local stock in the third quarter. Cold-remedy maker Quigley Corp. sank 37 percent. Private-school operator Nobel Learning Communities Inc. fell 19 percent.

Yesterday was not only the end of the quarter but also the 15th anniversary of the Inquirer/Bloomberg Philadelphia Index. It began with 192 stocks and was set at 100 points based on their prices as of Sept. 30, 1994.

While the index today has about the same number of companies, there is a big difference: Financial stocks are no longer the driving force they once were. Now the giants are in pharmaceuticals (GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C.), technology (SAP AG), and media (Comcast Corp.)

Where financials once represented 34 percent of the weighting in the Inquirer Bloomberg index, they now account for only 8 percent.
Posted by Mike Armstrong @ 7:31 AM  Permalink | File Under: Investing, Markets | Post a comment
Comments   


0 comments
About Mike Armstrong
Mike Armstrong, a business editor and writer for nearly two decades, is the Inquirer's business columnist and PhillyInc blog editor. Contact Mike via e-mail or at 215-854-2980
Advertise Here