A scorecard for stocks as the quarter ends

5:00 AM, March 31, 2008

Mercifully, the first quarter ends today.

The U.S. stock market was, of course, a mess thanks to the collateral damage in the economy and the credit markets from the housing bust. We're on track for the biggest losses in major indexes since the third quarter of 2002 -- which was the final period of the last bear market.

With one trading session left in the quarter, here's how the scorecard looks:

The Dow Jones industrial average, at 12,216 heading into today's session, is down 7.9% since Dec. 31 and off 13.8% from its record high of 14,164 reached on Oct. 9.

But the blue-chip Dow understates the damage done to the broader market. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is down 10.4% year to date and down 16% from its record, also set Oct. 9.

The Russell 2,000 small-stock index has skidded 10.8% in the first three months and has slumped a little more than 20% from its all-time high last year.

Although financial stocks were pounded in the quarter as the credit crunch deepened, perhaps the biggest negative surprise came from Silicon Valley. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index is down 14.8% year to date as investors have bailed on many of last year's tech highfliers.

Google Inc. is down nearly 37% this quarter, Apple Inc. has tumbled 28% and Microsoft Corp. is down almost 22%.

Many European and Asian stock markets fared worse than Wall Street as investors feared a spillover effect from the U.S. economy's struggles. Measured in local currencies, major share indexes year to date are down 12.6% in Spain, 19% in Germany, 18% in Japan, 34% in China and 23% in India.

But wherever the dollar was weak (which was most places in the world), that provided a buffer for U.S. investors. Measured in dollars the German market is down 12% for the quarter. Japan is off 8.3%.

Latin American markets were a pleasant surprise, somehow largely ignoring what was happening in the U.S. Brazil's Bovespa stock index is down a modest 5.4% year to date. The Mexican market actually is up for the quarter, with a 1.9% gain in pesos and a 4% gain measured in dollars.

How will it all translate in your 401(k) saving plan? The average U.S. stock mutual fund was down 9.4% for the quarter, through Friday, according to Morningstar Inc. The average foreign stock fund was down 9.6%.