'08 Dow Winners and Losers

Well as a business person I always say its important to know what the enemy (competition) is up to and how well or bad they are doing. This important to me because no 1 idea belongs to any 1 individual.

Quick example:
I make and sell cards. Now if business 'XYZ' makes and sells cards and other paper goods I need to or at least should want to know how they are doing. This is because there may be a piece of the paper industry I am missing out on. Also if 'XYZ' creates a card design that is not selling and I happened to create a similar design, then I know it should go back to drawing broad and be modified...

Hope that example helped example my position a little.

Ok now to the winner and loser of the '08 Market:
The only 2 stocks to rise the most during the '08 economic slump were
Wal-Mart Stores with 18% gain and McDonalds with nearly 6% gain.
Family Dollar rose 36% in 2008
GM fell 60 cents/16%
Citigroup dropped nine cents or 1.3%

Now I am not a stocks and bonds expert but what those stats tell me is car items will drop if not dropping already because cars are not selling. Food you know will continue to sell. Banks are falling because of bad loans and the fact that people are scared of this economy and rather have they cash on hand instead of in some bank where they may not see it again. And last but not least that discounted items and stores will sell a lot more because people are holding onto their dollars really tight and are now more concerned with getting the right bang for their bucks...

These are just a few things a business owner should know

when it comes down to designing, production and wholesaling...