2008 could nail its spot as worst yearNEW YORK (Reuters) - As the U.S. stock market heads into the last week of the year, what was inconceivable just 12 months ago is now a stark possibility: 2008 could be the worst year ever for Wall Street.
The U.S. market's most tracked benchmark, the S&P 500, is down 40.6 percent since last year's close with only three trading days left in 2008. Given the market's hair-trigger volatility this year, that is just one bad day away from surpassing 1931's drop of 47.1 percent -- the biggest yearly decline ever.
As it is, the market's swoon this year will cement 2008's place in history by at least one measure: eviscerated wealth. A record $7.3 trillion of stock market value has been obliterated this year, according to the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index, the broadest measure of U.S. equity performance.
http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSTRE4BP3J820081228 Have the tax cuts paid for themselves yet?
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