KAIZEN WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Monthly Investment Commentary

april, 2008                                                                                                             

Stocks were down sharply during the first quarter of 2008.  A few strong positive days towards the end of March were not enough to offset the pain of one of the roughest quarters we’ve seen in years.  Larger-cap stocks, represented by the S&P 500 Index, were down 9.45% during the first three months of the year, with value modestly outperforming growth.  Mid- and smaller-cap stocks were down roughly the same, though value’s outperformance of growth was more significant as market-cap values declined.  International stocks also had a rough quarter with the MSCI EAFE down nearly 9%.  Commodity futures, represented by the DJ-AIG Commodity Index, slid during the month of March, but had a strong quarter, gaining 9.6%.  Our emerging-markets local-currency bonds benchmark, the JPMorgan ELMI+, also did well, gaining close to 5% for the first three months of the year.  The NAREIT Equity Index, with a strong March return, managed to edge into the black for the quarter, with a little over a 1% gain, while the Merrill Lynch High-Yield Master Index shed 3% as bond investors shunned risk.

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