2008 was a brutal year for pretty much everyone, and some of the top funds were no different. Ken Heebner's CGM Focus Fund (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CGMFX"CGMFX/a), which returned an amazing 80% in 2007, lost 48% in 2008.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;" class="news_story_title"a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213amp;sid=a74xUQYdcxEMamp;refer=home"CGM’s Heebner, Fidelity’s Lange Falter as Markets Claim Victims/a /spanbr /br /Excerpt from Bloomberg article:br /br /span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"U.S. mutual funds suffered in the /spana style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.blogger.com/apps/quote?ticker=SPX%3AIND" t_above="true" t_static="true" t_fontcolor="#000000" t_fontface="Verdana,sans-serif" t_bgcolor="#ddedd9" t_width="110" t_delay="50"greatest stock decline/aspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" since 1937. The economic recession drove down shares of every industry from energy producers and automakers to technology companies and banks./spanbr /br /span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"Heebner’s fund gained 80 percent in 2007 to beat all peers, largely by buying energy stocks. He was hurt in 2008 after oil prices fell almost three-fourths from a record in July. ...

The market is following the pattern I expected, and I think this will continue. We're going to see a lot of trade-able rallies, and many of these will be related to the economic stimulus package. The "experts" are coming out in full force saying "the bottom is in" "time to buy stocks" etc. I think the general public will be pretty hesitant to listen to them this time. Read more about this in my a href="http://briskycapital.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-recaplook-ahead.html"2008 RECAP/2009 OUTLOOK/a.br /br /Like I said, the best buys are short-term trades, because there are too many uncertainties. Earnings is one of the big ones. We're going to get a little clearer picture in the next couple of weeks. We know the results will be mostly weak, but the outlooks are much more important than the numbers right now. We're obviously going to get a lot ...

Is your 2008 going out with a bang, or slouching toward the exits? Here's a chart for those who like a golden end to the year ...brA href=http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=$GOLDp=Damp;st=2008-01-01amp;id=p71883825505amp;listNum=10amp;a=157883026img style=WIDTH: 480px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/commodityandbonds.png _width=75 _height=75/AbrThis compares gold (green line) to silver (blue line), the Samp;P 500 (black line), oil (red line) and the TLT bond fund (pink line). Obviously, bonds got the better of 2008. But what will happen in 2009? That's the real question.brbrHere, in my latest web-cast, I try to answer some of those questions in A href=http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/MAM-TV/mam-tv.htmlstrongmy latest broadcast for MaM-TV/strong/A. Those are my answers. What are your answers? There are plenty of answers around, but the trick is asking the right questions.brbrHere are some other things to think about.brbrFirst of all, the A href=http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE4BT55Y20081231strongFed is going to buy $500 million in mortgage-backed securities /strong/Aby the middle of 2009. Will that finally unstick the frozen mortgage markets?brbrMoney is ...

I wanted to add an additional article that I found to the discussion of free-market capitalism and its role in the current economic crisis. This comes from Yaron Brook and Don Watkins via the a href="http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=index"Ayn Rand Institue/a. Ayn Rand is the author of classic novels such as Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Anthem. br /br /br /strongStop Blaming Capitalism for Government Failuresbr /By /stronga href="http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=media_YaronBrook"strongYaron Brook/strong/astrong and /stronga href="http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=media_DonWatkins"strongDon Watkins/strong/abr /br /br /Speaking of the financial crisis, French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently said, “Laissez-faire is finished. The all-powerful market that always knows best is finished.”br /br /Sarkozy was echoing the views of many, including president-elect Obama, who assume that the financial crisis was caused by free markets--by “unbridled greed” unleashed by decades of deregulation and a “hands off” approach to the economy. And given this premise, the solution, they say, is obvious. To solve this crisis and ...

In this portion of the economic cycle, we typically see all sorts of causes and reasons for fault. This time, its no different...br /br /We've seen "the fall of the U.S." theories...br /h1 style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-size:78%;"a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123051100709638419.html"As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S./a/span/h1Its an interesting theory, but pretty light on the substance. This guy fails to take into consideration the actual climate in America.br /br /And of course "the death of free-market capitalism" calls...br /br /a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/laissezfaire_capitalism_should.html"span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"Laissez-Faire Capitalism Should Be as Dead as Soviet Communism/span/abr /br /Again, awfully light on substance. Its so easily to rip on free-market capitalism during recessions, but people often forget about the wealth created by capitalism which probably is the reason the writer had a job to begin with. Some like to have it both ways. Its easy to tear down ...

The New Year is barreling toward us like a runaway bus. Today's Must-Read: A href=http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2008/12/29/the-collapse-of-financial-globalization/#more-4285STRONGThe Collapse of Financial Globalization/STRONG/AbrbrBrad Setzer's writing style is a bit dry, but his charts are eye-popping and he makes his point like a silver bullet to the brain: private capital inflows to the US and private capital outflows from the US have fallen sharply. As in, fallen-off-a-cliff sharply.brimg style=WIDTH: 480px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/end-of-financial-globalization-1.png _height=75 _width=75brSo then, what is propping up U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. Dollar? America's livin' large lifestyle is largely supported by China and Japan (because they want to sell us stuff). The other big lender is Saudi Arabia, which also has an advantageous financial arrangement with the U.S.brbrIf and when China, Japan and Saudi Arabia are no longer able to support the continued growth of US deficit financing, the dollar and the bonds will decrease in value. And that fall could come with ...

This morning, we are seeing gold build on its sizeable gains from last week, and oil is up as well. The reason for the move in oil is simple: The explosive conflict in the Middle East is acting as a catalyst on an oil market that was already deeply oversold.brimg style=WIDTH: 480px alt= src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/dailyoil1.png _width=75 _height=75brHere is some of the news driving oil this morning ...br A href=http://us.rd.yahoo.com/finance/news/topnews/*http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081229/oil_prices.htmlSTRONGOil jumps above $40 on Gaza conflict/STRONG/A: Tensions generated by a widening conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants sent crude prices up sharply to above $40 a barrel Monday, with gasoline and heating oil also making sizable gains.br Defense Minister Ehud Barak said A href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087sid=aX1tMtYlUNBkamp;refer=homeSTRONGIsrael is fighting a “war to the death” with Hamas/STRONG/A, the group that controls Gaza. Prices also advanced as China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, said it will supplement its emergency oil stockpiles while prices are low, and the United Arab ...

It looks like a stupor-inducingly dull day in the market. I survived Christmas, though my Aunt's dog, Sidney, did not. In fact, it died at my house yesterday afternoon. Sidney was a very old dog, a good dog, and very loved, and will be missed very much.brbrEarlier in the day, we had fun. Along with presents, tons of food, and good friends, we played games. It's something of a tradition at my house.brbrMy team won this one: A href=http://www.amazon.com/Cranium-101010000-100E/dp/B00000DMBQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=toys-and-gamesamp;qid=1230299863amp;sr=1-1strongCranium/strong/A. I highly recommend it, especially for competitive families who like screaming at each other in a mix of outrage and glee.brbrLater, I lost this one: A href=http://www.amazon.com/Rio-Grande-Games-4098395-Carcassonne/dp/B00005UNAX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8amp;s=toys-and-gamesamp;qid=1230299958amp;sr=1-1strongCarcassone./strong/A Doesn't matter -- it's a great game, and I'll win it another time. I bought A href=http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Sports-Cards-Carcassone-Expansion/dp/B0009K6T2E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8amp;s=toys-and-gamesamp;qid=1230300041amp;sr=1-2strongCarcassone: Princessamp;Dragon Expansion /strong/Aas a gift for Cindy. She squealed with delight to find that under the tree.brbrHere's what I'm reading today (and so very little of it ...

The following poem was cut from the top of my MoneyandMarkets.com column (A style=FONT-WEIGHT: bold href=http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/3-stock-ing-stuffers-2-289703 Stock-ing Stuffers/A,) today ...brbrEMTwas the eve before Christmas,brand all through the nightbrSean’s mind was whirring,brWith stocks that could ignite/EMbrbrPoetry is subjective, and everyone's a critic.brbrBefore we get to the serious stuff, A href=http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/brokerjoe_2008.pdfSTRONGhere's some/STRONG/A Christmas cheer (and humor) from the A href=http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/brokerjoe_2008.pdfSTRONGWall Street Journal./STRONG/A Click through for a laugh.brbrNow then ...brbrA href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087sid=aFgHlh.Dn4Lcamp;refer=homeSTRONGWill the Japanese Launch a 'Marshall Plan' to Save the US?/STRONG/AbrThe dollar may lose as much as 40 percent of its value to 50 yen or 60 yen from the current spot rate of 90.40 today in Tokyo unless Japan takes “drastic measures” to help bail out the U.S. economy.brThe Japanese government could use a new Marshall Plan as a chance to shrink its $976.9 billion in foreign-exchange A href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=JNFRTOTL%3AIND t_delay=50 t_width=110 t_bgcolor=#ddedd9 t_fontface=Verdana,sans-serif t_fontcolor=#000000 t_static=true t_above=trueSTRONGreserves/STRONG/A, the world’s second-largest after China’s, and ...

I found ana href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122999122677028455.html#identifier" article worth reading/a from the Wall Street Journal about the US financial weakness and the opportunity for China to gain relative strength in influence and economic power.br /br /As a whole, I tend to agree with this thesis. China has the resources, specifically people. They have a huge young population that is moving to its cities. They are also a nation of producers meaning they will always be exporting goods, or at least until someone makes them cheaper. I've heard Jim Rogers say time and again that selling China today is like selling America in 1908. I believe he's right.br /br /br /Article: span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-weight: bold;"/spana href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122999122677028455.html#identifier"U.S. Woes Open Door for China/abr /Source: a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/us"Wall Street Journal /abr //span