Regional Bank Short Index: Stats & Benchmarks
Top 5 Companies by Largest 1-Year Stock Price Decline 
The accompanying tables present an overview of a U.S. Regional Bank Short Index of 102 companies between market caps of $500 million to $20 billion. The two worst-performing stocks were both down over 80% in the past year, including Washington Mutual (WM) and National City (NCC). The 40 lowest-rated companies in the index posted a loss of 47.6% over the past year, which outpaces the losses of benchmark funds such as the KBW Regional Bank ETF (KRE) and the Regional Bank HOLDRs (RKH). As an inverse/short index, the 40 lowest rated stocks performed even better than the leveraged/inverse UltraShort Financial ProShares (SKF), which posted a gain of 32.7% over the past year. Regional banks are likely to continue struggling given the continued housing recession, rising unemployment, and other uncertainties facing the domestic economy and consumers.
$33.85 (09/05/08)
