Week Three Performance: Up 3.80% (From Start: Up 13.62%)

The stock market started off the week going down because of worries about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But the market ended the week going up despite worries about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There’s been an almost overwhelming consensus that the common equity in these two companies is worthless and the stocks are going to zero.

In my dictionary, “overwhelming consensus” spells “contrary indicator.” But in this case, I don’t think its worth placing “bets” on the two doomed stocks directly. If the resolution to this situation is something other than zero, all stocks will have a sufficiently exuberant reaction anyway.

This week, the 8 Stock Portfolio posted a gain of 3.80%. This gain is measured as the change in value from the closing prices on 8/15/2008 to the closing prices on 8/22/2008. This compares to a declines of 0.27%, 1.54%, and 0.46% for the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500, respectively.

Since the beginning on 8/1/2008, the 8 Stock Portfolio is up 13.62%. This compares to gains of 2.66%, 4.49%, and 2.53% for the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P, respectively.

Here’s the performance individually for the week:

	8/15/2008	8/22/2008	Change
Brunswick Corp (BC)	14.63	13.85	-5.33%
Chico’s (CHS)	4.81	4.84	0.62%
RH Donnelley (RHD)	1.88	2.69	43.09%
Ruby Tuesday (RT)	8.28	7.2	-13.04%
Select Comfort (SCSS)	2.30	2.26	-1.74%
Titanium Metals (TIE)	11.13	12.19	9.52%
VMWare (VMW)	39.83	38.93	-2.26%
Whole Foods Market (WFMI)	19.69	18.44	-6.35%
8 Stock Portfolio			3.80%

Here’s a separate table showing the performance from the start:

	8/1/2008	8/22/2008	Change
Brunswick Corp (BC)	13.11	13.85	5.64%
Chico’s (CHS)	5.5	4.84	-12.00%
RH Donnelley (RHD)	1.47	2.69	82.99%
Ruby Tuesday (RT)	6.7	7.2	7.46%
Select Comfort (SCSS)	2.01	2.26	12.44%
Titanium Metals (TIE)	10.5	12.19	16.10%
VMWare (VMW)	35.31	38.93	10.25%
Whole Foods Market (WFMI)	21.42	18.44	-13.91%
8 Stock Portfolio			13.62%

A portfolio of 8 stock picks from the edge