THE DREARY DECADE

摘要

There are still six months left in this decade, but it may not be too soon to start drafting its obituary.rnAnd a look at the num-bers shows that investors calling the 10 years "lost" may have understated the case. As of June 30,rnthe Standard & Poor'srn500-stock index wasrndown 37%, or 59b a year, from its Dec. 31,1999, close of 1469.25. So it would take quite a rally just to break even for the decade: The index would have to climb 60% by Dec. 31,2009. The last such negative decade? The dreadful 1930s, which suffered a42% cumulative stock market loss. Factor in dividends, says Howard Silverblatt, a senior index analyst at S&P, and the "aughts" -the years 2000 through 2009-look even worse. In the '30s, dividends turned that decade's 5% average annual drop into a positive total return of 1% a year.