Holiday Portfolio: A Welcome Break From a Difficult Tape

With Memorial Day and the beginning of summer on us, many investors are hoping the market will move in the direction of the mercury in the kitchen window thermometer. Concerns over energy prices, liquidity, the economic outlook and, as a result, earnings performance in 2008 have investors shell-shocked. Combine those long-term trends with the wild ride in oil prices in the past month, and market participants are saying thank goodness for a 4-day week.

However, that also means its time to take a look at the holiday portfolio, a group of five stocks that know all too well how volatile and hostile the market has been.

From January to December ...