Most Sectors Slide, but Gold and Silver Shine

The strong showing by the metals index was driven by investors seeking a safe haven from the sinking stock market. The Gold and Silver Index has already tumbled 13% since its high of 88 in May, but optimists point to industry consolidation, a weakening dollar and the fact that gold is closing above $335 an ounce, a five-year high, as constructive for the industry.

Few Sector Winners The Gold and Silver Index shone brightest
Industry Index	High Price	Low Price	12/18/2002 Close	YTD % Change
Phila. Gold and Silver	88.65	59.30	77.10	+41.7
Phila. Oil Services	112	69.60	88.754	+2.7
Bloomberg Real Estate	141.18	108.75	118.60	-6.4
Phila. Bank	918.51	603.57	756.08	-12.1
Morgan Stanley Consumer	605.09	444.50	492.44	-12.8
Amex Oil and Gas	576.19	411.51	446.17	-14.6
Morgan Stanley Cyclical	597.80	369.48	450.56	-15.3
Amex Broker/Dealer	555.68	3189.24	427.70	-16.2
S&P Retail	362.20	244.15	269.66	-21.4
Amex Pharma	395.48	237.73	298.77	-21.6
Amex Biotech	605.27	275.13	351.72	-39.2
Morgan Stanley High-Tech	565.71	223.40	298.08	-41.2
Phila. Semiconductor	641.90	209.35	297.80	-42.97
Phila. Wireless Telecom	102.96	31.26	53.55	-43.5
TheStreet.com Internet	207.12	62.70	88.34	-54.2
Phila. Airline	114.42	27.25	38.69	-58.3
Source: TSC Research

Highlights and Low Points

As scandals and myriad allegations surrounded such companies as Enron, Adelphia, WorldCom and Tyco, the investment banks that worked for these firms faced an investor backlash.

J.P. Morgan (JPM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) is down 34% for the year to date. Citigroup (C - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) has lost 26%, and Merrill Lynch (MER - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) has fallen 22%. All have announced layoffs and corporate restructurings and are now among the firms trying to negotiate a settlement with government regulators who are promising to clean up Wall Street research and banking.

Even discount broker Charles Schwab (SCH - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), which wasn't even mentioned in the same breath as the big investment banks this year, felt the wrath of retail traders and watched its revenue drop some 42% and its shares fall 28%.

Finding winners proved to be difficult but not impossible. Only 50 companies in the S&P 500 are currently up more than 5% for the year to date. Meanwhile, 274 stocks are down 10% this year.

The S&P 500's Top Winners and Losers Big year for Boston Scientific
	12/18/2002 Close	YTD % Change
Winners
Boston Scientific (BSX)	$43.25	+73.3
Halliburton (HAL)	19.75	+52.4
Newmont Mining (NEM)	29.10	+52.2
Apollo Group (APOL)	43.59	+46.7
Ball Corp. (BLL)	49.69	+44.4
Losers*
Nvidia (NVDA)	$12.93	-80.1
TMP Worldwide (TMPW)	10.93	-74.5
Electronic Data System (EDS)	18.37	-73.2
Tyco (TYC)	16.98	-71.2
Veritas Software (VRTS)	17.29	-61.4
*Losers are based on stocks still trading above $10. Source: TSC Research