Investors dumping bonds

Bernanke's tapering talk spooked investors.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's recent announcement that the central bank could start pulling back on its bond purchase program later this year spooked investors, who yanked a record $80 billion out of bond mutual funds and exchange traded funds through June 27, according to TrimTabs.

While Stebbins has been following the Fed news, he has been standing pat.

The 63-year old, who has been semi-retired for nearly a decade, invests less than a third of his and his wife Debbie's nest egg in bonds, while a majority sits in stock mutual funds and annuities.

"Given where interest rates are, we've understood for awhile that a bond portfolio is not what's going to get us through the next 10 to 15 years," said Stebbins, who was an executive at a flavor and fragrance company until he retired in 2004. He still consults for various private equity firms within the industry.

"I've always been bullish on stocks over bonds over a long-term period, and because of our continuing income, we can afford to be a bit more aggressive," added Stebbins, who invests through Gary Goldberg Financial Services.

Many of the firm's clients have light exposure to bonds.

"We looked at bonds and made a fairly early call that they've become a very risky asset class as a result of artificially low yields that have been pushed down by monetary policy," said Oliver Pursche, president of the Suffern, N.Y.-based investment advisory firm.

The firm has been bearish on bonds for the past year and a half.

Even for retired and semi-retired clients like Stebbins, Pursche said it doesn't make sense to hold long-term bonds because they will lose value as interest rates rise from their record low levels.

During the past two months, the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury bond fund (TLT) has declined nearly 11%. At the same time, the 10-year Treasury yield has climbed to 2.5% from 1.6% in early May.

For clients like Stebbins who can withstand a bit of volatility, Purshe invests in short-term bonds to dampen the ups and down in his clients' portfolios, but largely relies on high quality dividend paying stocks, such as Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500), AT&T (T, Fortune 500) and GlaxoSmithKlein (GSK), to generate income and deliver returns.

Pursche thinks the recent flight out of bonds has been exaggerated by fears that bonds will collapse when the Fed begins reversing its stimulus programs. He said it's important for investors to realize that bonds are "very overvalued," and there's not much room for prices to appreciate and yields to fall.

Given that backdrop, he wondered what took so long for investors to finally start pulling money out of their bond funds, and said there's still more room to go.

While the recent withdrawal reverses nearly three-quarters of this year's inflow into bonds, it doesn't even make a dent on the $1 trillion investors have plowed into bond funds since the financial crisis.

First Published: July 2, 2013: 8:04 AM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Patent troll: 'I'm ethical and moral'

Self-described patent troll Robert Berman, CEO of CopyTele, says he is defending small inventors.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"I'm a moral and ethical person, and I have no problem engaging in what I do," he proclaims.

His firm, CopyTele (COPY), buys up patents from mostly small inventors and uses them to sue businesses that CopyTele believes are infringing on those patents. CopyTele holds a growing portfolio of patents, but it doesn't actually make anything -- a practice that patent reform advocates and the Obama administration are trying to curb.

Patent assertion companies are the target of a recent series of executive actions by the Obama administration aimed at stymieing abuse of the patent system. The Federal Trade Commission is conducting an investigation into the firms' practices.

Critics say that patent assertion entities hinder innovation and clog up the patent system. Lawsuits brought by such firms made up 61% of all patent cases last year, according to the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Related story: Obama cracks down on patent trolls

"They don't actually produce anything themselves," President Obama said during a Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) Hangout discussion in February. "They're just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money out of them."

Berman acknowledges that there are bad actors engaging in extortion and scare tactics, and he agrees that the government should crack down on companies that "give a black eye to the industry." But he also believes the Obama administration and the media are painting firms that bring patent lawsuits with an overly broad brush.

"This whole patent troll thing is as mythical as trolls themselves," he told CNNMoney. "You should not have to make products in order to benefit from the patent system, and not every company that brings lawsuits is doing something frivolous."

Berman insists that his business actually works for the greater good. Without a company like CopyTele, he says, small inventors would have no ability to defend their intellectual property against big companies looking to copy or steal their inventions. Berman sees his company as protecting the little Davids against Goliaths.

CopyTele's model is to give inventors a share of the proceeds from the successful lawsuits it brings against companies found to have violated their patents. That way, Berman says, CopyTele can't be accused of bilking inventors. His company doesn't, for example, give inventors a low-ball upfront offer for their patents and then proceed to make millions from lawsuits without cutting them in on the rewards.

Related story: Vermont fights back against 'patent trolls'

That's the opposite of what big tech companies do, Berman believes.

"The first thing they do is help themselves to your intellectual property," he said. "When you go to try to sell your patent to a big company, they will steal it from you. And they buy companies that infringe all the time."

That's a belief often repeated by entrepreneurs -- with little proof other than some anecdotal evidence. Big tech companies generally counter that they constantly cook up new ideas, and that inventors often overestimate how unique their inventions are.

Yet Berman said he's seen it firsthand. When he first joined CopyTele in October, the company was engaged in a joint venture with display technology giant AUO to compete with E-Ink, the largest provider of e-reader screen technology. A month later, AUO entered a cross-licensing patent deal with E-Ink -- including the patents it obtained rights to in the CopyTele venture. CopyTele has since sued AUO for breach of contract and fraud.

AUO, based in Taiwan, did not respond to a request for comment.

Patent assertion is a relatively new line of business for CopyTele. The company switched gears last year, abandoning its technology development efforts to focus on licensing and litigating. Berman, who came in to revamp the business, was formerly an executive at Acacia Research Corp. (ACTG), one of the tech industry's most feared patent foes.

Among CopyTele's first targets was Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) Skype, which CopyTele claims infringed on one of its peer-to-peer networking patents. The lawsuit is ongoing.

Fighting the patent wars can be lucrative. Acacia turned a profit of nearly $60 million last year on revenue of more than $250 million. Intellectual-property funds typically generate annualized returns of between 10% and 20%, according to industry estimates cited recently by the Wall Street Journal.

Patent battles can become an unavoidable business cost -- almost like a toll -- for tech companies. Big companies are sometimes willing to settle such suits simply to make them go away. For startups and small businesses, the cost of litigation can put them out of business.

That's why Berman says he likes to talk through the issues with the other party before going to court. Usually, he says, the two parties can come to a mutually satisfactory agreement.

"I hate litigation, and we always make sure the money we ask for is in relation to the damage we believe their infringement caused," Berman said. "But no one writes a check these days if the case has no merits."

First Published: July 2, 2013: 9:47 AM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks: Investors take a step back

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped less than 0.1%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged up a handful of points.

Investors are expected to remain cautious until Friday, when the Labor Department will release the June jobs report. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney predict the U.S. economy added 155,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 7.5% last month.

Economic data has been in sharper focus recently as investors consider when the Federal Reserve may start pulling back on its bond purchases.

Last month, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke announced that as long as the economic recovery continues in line with the central bank's outlook, the Fed could begin pulling back later this year.

The Census Bureau is slated to release data on factory orders at 10 a.m. ET, while the major U.S. automakers are set to release monthly sales figures throughout the day.

U.S. stocks finished with gains Monday, following reports on manufacturing and construction spending that were consistent with a gradually improving economy, but not strong enough to raise concerns about the Federal Reserve reducing its stimulus policies.

Related: Fear & Greed Index driven by fear

What's moving: Zynga (ZNGA) shares rose 10% after the online gaming company announced that CEO Mark Pincus is stepping down. Don Mattrick, the former head of Microsoft's (MSFT, Fortune 500) Xbox and gaming division, was named as Zynga's new chief.

Nielsen Holdings (NLSN) shares edged higher following news that the company will join the S&P 500 next week, replacing Sprint Nextel (S, Fortune 500).

Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) extended chairman and CEO Bob Iger's tenure through June 2016. Iger had previously been scheduled to leave his post in April 2015.

World markets: European stocks were lower in afternoon trading, pulling back from broad-based gains Monday.

Asian markets ended mixed. In China, the Shanghai Composite added 0.6%. But traders in Hong Kong came back from a Monday holiday in a bearish mood, pushing the benchmark Hang Seng down by 0.7%.

Tokyo's Nikkei gained 1.8%. The index has surged by more than 9% since Thursday morning, bouncing back from bear market territory. It's been helped over the past few days as the yen weakened against the dollar.

First Published: July 2, 2013: 9:49 AM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nokia's $20 (and profitable) cell phone

Nokia can sell this cell phone for just $20 and still make a profit.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

To be sure, the Nokia 105 is as basic as cell phones get. It can't surf the web, it has no app store, and it doesn't even have a camera. But $20 for a phone that can make calls, send text messages and features a color screen is an incredibly good deal.

What's more incredible is that the Finland-based company profits $5.80 from the sale of each phone, almost a 30% margin, according to an IHS analysis. Materials and manufacturing costs the company just $14.20 per device.

What a world of difference a decade makes. Eight years ago, Nokia's cheapest phone -- the Nokia (NOK) 1110 -- had very similar features to the Nokia 105 but cost more than three times as much.

"By keeping features the same for nearly a decade, the Nokia 105 can integrate nearly all system functions into a single chip, dramatically reducing the cost to produce a cellphone," said Wayne Lam, an analyst at the research group IHS, in a research note.

The Nokia 105's profit margin is much smaller than the 68% profit margin IHS reports Apple earns from its iPhone 5, but that ultra high-end smartphones retails for more than 30 times the price of Nokia's cell phone.

Related story: Nokia Lumia 928: Design is not enough

The cell phone cannot measure up to all the features a smartphone offers, but its efficient battery supports 12.5 hours of talk time and up to 35 of standby. Those are factors that appeal to people in emerging markets like Africa, India and Latin America where power grids may be poor or there may be frequent shortages of electricity.

That's the segment of the market the Nokia 105 is aimed at. In fact, low-cost cell phones made up 90% of Nokia's shipments in 2012.

"While much attention has been lavished on smartphones, the market for simple handsets remains very important to Nokia," said Lam.

The Nokia 105 also offers a clock, flashlight, FM radio, five games including Sudoku, and an SMS service offering advice about things like parenting and healthy living, as well as local news and movie times. Nokia touts that this service, called Nokia Life, is "like having the internet at your fingertips."

First Published: July 1, 2013: 6:13 AM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

U.S. manufacturing resumes expansion

Manufacturing in the U.S. picked up in June, after it had contracted a month earlier.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Institute for Supply Management's monthly index on the U.S. manufacturing sector came in at 50.9 in June, up from 49 in May. Any number above 50 indicates the sector is expanding.

The number beat the 50.5 that economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting.

Manufacturers saw a jump in new orders, which rose by 3%, and production, which climbed 5%.

But employment in the sector suffered a blow in June. The report showed that manufacturing employment contracted for the first time since September 2009. This could be a worrisome sign ahead of the monthly employment report on the U.S. job market that is due out Friday.

While survey respondents noted that June sales appeared to have rebounded and that business is improving, some noted that the expansion they are seeing is slow.

"Slow growth continues to choke the recovery," one chemical products manufacturer said. "We are not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination."

While the U.S. saw slight improvement in June, the state of global manufacturing is less certain. Two separate reports on the Chinese manufacturing sector pointed to a slowdown. Both an HSBC survey and the official Chinese statistics bureau's purchasing manager's index showed that manufacturing declined in June from a month prior.

First Published: July 1, 2013: 10:19 AM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks: Welcoming the 2nd half

Click for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 160 points, or 1.1%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also gained more than 1%.

Stocks wrapped up the second quarter with all three indexes recording gains of between 2% and 5%, despite ending June down roughly 1%.

Overall, the stock market has been on a tear this year.

The S&P 500 is up more than 12% in the first half, compared with an average gain of about 4% for every first half going back to 1945, according to Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ.

Click here for more on stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies

Rally back on track: If history is any guide, the next six months should also be strong.

In years when the S&P 500 fell in the first half, the second half also tends to be sub-par. But in years when the index rose in the first half, it gained an average 5.4% during the second half, according to Stovall's calculations.

"History says the momentum is likely to continue," said Stoval.

Meanwhile, investors took in a few economic reports that signaled continued improvement.

The Institute for Supply Management said its index of manufacturing activity rose to 50.9 in June, signaling expansion in the sector for a fifth month and bouncing back from May, when it tumbled to 49.

Separately, construction spending rose 0.5% in May, according to the Commerce Department.

Related: Fear & Greed Index mired in extreme fear

What's moving: Shares of BlackBerry (BBRY) continued to falter after the company last week reported first-quarter results that fell far short of analysts' forecasts.

European markets were all higher in afternoon trading. British investors may be in a more upbeat mood as a new governor, Mark Carney, joins the Bank of England from Canada. Markets are generally expecting looser monetary policy from the central banker.

"We won't have to wait long to gauge how Mr. Carney will use his new powers, as the first big event happens this Thursday when he chairs his first meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee," explained Lee McDarby, from Investec's Corporate Treasury unit.

European investors were also cheering Nokia's (NOK) decision to pay $2.2 billion to buy the entire Nokia Siemens Networks unit, which is 50% owned by Siemens (SI). Shares of Nokia jumped on the news.

Related: Coal companies take a hit

Asian markets ended mostly higher, with the Shanghai Composite up 0.8% and Tokyo's Nikkei gaining 1.3%. Hong Kong's stock exchange was closed for a holiday.

First Published: July 1, 2013: 9:40 AM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More

Watch out bullies and slow drivers, you're about to get fined

In Monona, Wisconsin, home to a population of about 7,500, bullies can now be fined under a law that has been in effect since May 30.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

In Monona, Wis., home to about 7,500 residents, bullies (and their parents) can now be fined under a new law that has been in effect since May 30.

Under the law, all forms of bullying and harassment, ranging from schoolyard tussles to cyber-bullying, can result in a fine of $114 for a first violation and $177 for any subsequent violations. Anyone 12 and older can be hit with the fine. In extreme instances, parents of kids under the age of 18 can also be fined for their child's bad behavior, although they must receive a written warning first.

Related: Are you paying the iTunes tax?

The law wasn't just written to curb bullying at the playground. It's also meant to deal with adult issues like neighborhood disputes, said Monona's Police chief, Wally Ostrenga. So far, no "bully tickets" have been given out.

The so-called "bullying tax" is just one of a series of new local and state taxes, penalties and fees that consumers are facing. And many of them take effect today, the first day of the fiscal year for most states.

Related: Beer taxes: Why six-packs are pricier in some states

In Florida, pesky drivers who are plodding along in the fast lane can now be ticketed and fined $60 under a provision of a larger highway bill that takes effect today.

The so-called "road rage" law makes it illegal for motorists to drive more than 10 miles below the speed limit in the left lane of a multiple-lane road or highway if another car is coming up behind them.

The ticket would have the same effect on a driver's record as a speeding ticket, said Florida Highway Patrol Lieutenant Jeff Frost, which means it could also lead to a higher insurance bill.

Related: Map: beer tax in your state

Slow drivers and bullies aren't the only ones taking a financial hit. Here are some of the other new taxes and fees going into effect across the country:

Lighting up: It just got more expensive to be a smoker in Minnesota, which is more than doubling the state's tax on cigarettes from $1.23 to $2.83 a pack.

The state now has the sixth highest cigarette tax in the nation, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, although it still pales in comparison to New York's tax of $4.35 per pack.

iTunes and e-books: Also in Minnesota, consumers will have to pay more for digital diversions, under a new state sales tax on digital downloads that takes effect today. A $9.99 e-book purchase, for example, will get charged 69 cents in sales tax.

Shopping: In Arkansas, shoppers will face a state sales tax hike of 0.5%, which brings the state rate to 6.5%. The hike translates to an additional $3 in sales tax on a $600 big-screen TV.

Green vehicles: Being green doesn't pay in Virginia. Under part of a state transportation funding bill passed this spring, owners of hybrid and electric vehicles will have to pay a new $64 annual fee on top of car registration fees. Supporters of the tax argued that drivers of these green cars use the roads, but escape paying the gas taxes that help fund road repairs.

Hitting the road: Just in time for summer travel season, many consumers will face a higher price at the pump in at least five states, ranging from California to Maryland, which hike their state gas taxes today.

While gas taxes are bemoaned by drivers, Scott Drenkard, an economist at the Tax Foundation, said they are actually good tax policy since they help fund road upkeep and repairs.

"They help connect users of roads with the costs of driving on those roads," he said.

First Published: July 1, 2013: 6:07 AM ET

19.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

End may be near for BlackBerry

BlackBerry is at a crossroads.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"It is not the end / of the road for BlackBerry / but it may be close," wrote BGC analyst Colin Gilllis in a haiku to investors.

BlackBerry (BBRY) continues to struggle to sell phones. The former smartphone giant said Friday it shipped just 2.7 million BlackBerry 10 devices in its fiscal first quarter, and the company reported a surprise loss. Shares promptly lost nearly 30% of their value.

If the next few quarters echo this one, BlackBerry's dreams of once again becoming relevant in a market it once dominated will be destroyed. Over the past several years, BlackBerry's smartphone platform market share has been surpassed by Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and even Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500).

"The [stock] drop of 30% after that report shows how desperate the situation has become," said Brian Sozzi, CEO and chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors. "The market is telling you there is something fundamentally wrong with the company and you need a major fix."

Sozzi thinks that move should be a sale of BlackBerry, or at least some of its assets.

Related story: You're going to love the BlackBerry Q10 (or hate it)

Despite its struggles in hardware, BlackBerry does possess other valuable resources that could make it attractive to potential buyers.

BlackBerry owns a trove of lucrative patents, which is a huge advantage in the competitive -- and litigious -- smartphone field. The company's several enterprise software solutions, including a newly announced security platform for iOS and Android, could be another strong source of revenue. And BlackBerry's reputation endures as a company that specializes in that strong mobile security.

It also has an impressive $3.1 billion in cash on hand.

That portfolio could be attractive to a big rival like Microsoft, Apple or Samsung.

"We believe BlackBerry's biggest assets remain in its patents and its cash," wrote Kevin Smithen, an analysts at Macquarie Capital, in a research note on Friday. "We think the likely end game for BlackBerry is a break-up for liquidation at a lower price."

BlackBerry declined to comment for this story, though CEO Thorsten Heins has repeatedly said that the company is constantly considering all of its strategic options -- even as it continues to pin hopes on its current strategy of wooing back customers with its improved smartphone lineup.

Yet some believe the end isn't quite as near as you'd think for BlackBerry.

The company as it stands now isn't a great fit for any one suitor, says Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. That could complicate a potential sale.

"I don't think owning the brand, or even owning the whole company, is something anyone would consider," said Milanesi. "I can see them picking and choosing. The BlackBerry brand itself isn't compelling at this point."

Even if BlackBerry tried and failed to find a buyer -- or refused to consider that option -- and the downward spiral continued, the company wouldn't disappear overnight. BlackBerry will certainly tap into its big cash hoard to continue marketing BlackBerry 10 devices.

"No matter what they do, the wrong move won't kill you overnight, and the right move won't save you overnight," Milanesi said. "It's going to be a long, drawn-out process."

First Published: July 1, 2013: 6:10 AM ET

19.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nokia's $20 (and profitable) cell phone

Nokia can sell this cell phone for just $20 and still make a profit.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

To be sure, the Nokia 105 is as basic as cell phones get. It can't surf the web, it has no app store, and it doesn't even have a camera. But $20 for a phone that can make calls, send text messages and features a color screen is an incredibly good deal.

What's more incredible is that the Finland-based company profits $5.80 from the sale of each phone, almost a 30% margin, according to an IHS analysis. Materials and manufacturing costs the company just $14.20 per device.

What a world of difference a decade makes. Eight years ago, Nokia's cheapest phone -- the Nokia (NOK) 1110 -- had very similar features to the Nokia 105 but cost more than three times as much.

"By keeping features the same for nearly a decade, the Nokia 105 can integrate nearly all system functions into a single chip, dramatically reducing the cost to produce a cellphone," said Wayne Lam, an analyst at the research group IHS, in a research note.

The Nokia 105's profit margin is much smaller than the 68% profit margin IHS reports Apple earns from its iPhone 5, but that ultra high-end smartphones retails for more than 30 times the price of Nokia's cell phone.

Related story: Nokia Lumia 928: Design is not enough

The cell phone cannot measure up to all the features a smartphone offers, but its efficient battery supports 12.5 hours of talk time and up to 35 of standby. Those are factors that appeal to people in emerging markets like Africa, India and Latin America where power grids may be poor or there may be frequent shortages of electricity.

That's the segment of the market the Nokia 105 is aimed at. In fact, low-cost cell phones made up 90% of Nokia's shipments in 2012.

"While much attention has been lavished on smartphones, the market for simple handsets remains very important to Nokia," said Lam.

The Nokia 105 also offers a clock, flashlight, FM radio, five games including Sudoku, and an SMS service offering advice about things like parenting and healthy living, as well as local news and movie times. Nokia touts that this service, called Nokia Life, is "like having the internet at your fingertips."

First Published: July 1, 2013: 6:13 AM ET

19.33 | 0 komentar | Read More

Big winners on Wall Street are yesterday's dogs

Click for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

First Solar was the best performing stock among the S&P 500, gaining more than 65% over the past three months.

It's a remarkable rebound for the leading maker of solar panels, which saw its stock fall 12% in the first quarter.

First Solar (FSLR) wowed investors in April with a surprisingly bullish outlook for the year. The stock shot up 43% in one day, after First Solar said it expected profits to be 28% above previous forecasts this year on healthy sales growth.

The solar industry has been in a slump as low-cost imports from China have depressed prices. But solar panel prices have stabilized and First Solar said demand is ramping up.

First Solar wasn't the only underdog to make a comeback.

J.C. Penney (JCP, Fortune 500) shares gained more than 12% during the quarter, recovering about half of their first quarter losses.

The retailer ousted CEO Ron Johnson in April, after his controversial turnaround plan failed to show results. J.C. Penney publicly apologized for the changes, and ran an ad on its YouTube channel that practically begged customers to come back.

Related: Top hedge fund manager bets on a return to normal markets

In business for more than 100 years, J.C. Penney has been swimming in red ink as it struggles to compete with online retailers. But the company has been strengthening its finances in an effort to mount another turnaround. It scored a $1.75 billion loan from Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) in April.

Other top performers in the quarter include popular momentum stocks, such as GameStop (GME, Fortune 500), Micron Technology (MU, Fortune 500) and Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500).

Best Buy has also been on a turnaround kick, cutting costs and closing under performing stores. Investors have welcomed the moves, sending shares up 26% in the quarter, despite a disappointing sales report in May.

It was also a good quarter for health insurance companies. Shares of Aetna (AET, Fortune 500), WellPoint (WLP, Fortune 500) and Humana (HUM, Fortune 500) all rose by more than 23%.

Golden parachute? Mining companies were among the worst performers in the quarter as prices of precious and non-precious metals plunged.

Shares of Alpha Natural Resources (ANR, Fortune 500) and Newmont Mining (NEM, Fortune 500) fell more than 30%. Iron Mountain (IRM) and Freeport McMoRan (FCX, Fortune 500) also suffered double-digit losses.

Investors have been dumping mining stocks as gold prices plunge.

Related: Gold plunges to two-year low

The precious metal is down 25% this quarter, falling below $1,200 an ounce this week for the first time since August 2010. The largest gold-backed ETF, the SPDR Gold Shares Trust (GLD), lost nearly 24% during the past three months.

While the sell-off in gold has caught the most headlines, mining stocks have also been hurt by the falling price of copper.

Copper prices plunged nearly 12% in the second quarter as demand from China slowed and supplies increased.

A number of energy companies were also hit hard.

Marathon Petroleum (MPC, Fortune 500) shares are down more than 20% for the quarter, after gaining 42% in the first quarter. The company has been playing catch-up on the boom in domestic energy production, and is exposed to a slowdown in emerging market demand.

Peabody Energy (BTU, Fortune 500), which specializes in coal mining, and gas station operator Valero (VLO, Fortune 500) were also big losers in the quarter.

First Published: June 28, 2013: 12:44 PM ET

21.29 | 0 komentar | Read More