Yonder 40 clobbers Dow and S&P in 2009

The Yonder 40, a stock index that reflects the economy of rural America, is significantly outpacing its big city brethren this year. To date in 2009, the Y40 is up 5.3% while the Dow and S&P are down 8.4% and 4.8% respectively. If anyone's thinking that's just playing catch up, think again. In 2008 the Y40 fell 31%, no treat of course, but that's compared to 34% down on the Dow and minus 38% for the S&P.

What does this mean. As with any stock index, there can be as many stories as there are stocks and that has especially been the case over the last 18 months as the extremes among the stocks in the indexes have been greatly accentuated, highs and lows. The Y40 comparative outperformance story is, roughly speaking, related to guns, agriculture, and coal, plus the retailers that cater to the necessarily more thrifty consumer. There also seems to be an element of what goes up less comes down less. Could that speak to the steadiness of a lifestyle and work ethic that characterizes rural America, or at least once did and now the vestiges of that culture still hang on. Sociologists please take over from here.

For more on the Yonder 40 see www.dailyyonder.com.