S&P 500 Bears in a Bull Market

jamesmith

S&P 500 Bears in a Bull Market
MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012 AT 05:01PM
There's no denying that the recent sell off in equities has been painful for bulls.  Just today, stocks like Hewlett Packard (HPQ), JC Penney (JCP), and Tiffany (TIF) not only hit 52-week lows, but also multi-year lows!  With the S&P 500 just 7% off its recent highs, it may be hard to imagine that so many stocks are trading at new 52-week lows, but what is even more noteworthy is the fact that there are currently 30 stocks in the S&P 500 that are down since the bull market began on March 9, 2009.

Since the S&P 500 made its bear market bottom more than three years ago, shares of First Solar (FSLR) are the worst performing stock in the S&P 500 with a decline of 86%.  FLSR is followed by Metro PCS (-60.2%), Apollo Group (-51.1%), and Alpha Natural Resources (-50.2%).  While not all of these stocks are household names, there are plenty of stocks on the list, such as Hewlett Packard (-23.4%), that are much more recognizable and have therefore caused much more pain for investors.

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