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Winter 2009 Indicators of the Metroscape: Stocks

Elizabeth Mylott Portland State University, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Mylott, Elizabeth (2009). "Indicators of the Metroscape: Stocks," Winter 2009 Metroscape, page 31.

This Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Metroscape by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Indicators of the Metroscape Stocks by Elizabeth Mylott

regon, like the rest of the country, As the jobless rate increases, stock prices for is feeling the effects of the troubled some of the area’s largest publicly traded com- Oeconomy. The economic forecast re- panies are decreasing. Nine companies head- leased by the State of Office of Eco- quartered in the metroscape with market caps nomic Development identifies major risks to above $1 billion show similar patterns of mar- the state’s economy including the credit crunch, ket growth and decline over the past year. After returning high energy prices, the extent of the a jump during May, prices have been steadily global downturn, and the appreciation of the dropping (www.seattlepi.nwsource.com/busi- U.S. dollar. Effects of the crisis can be seen ness/388189_oregonjobless18.html). around the region. As revenues decrease, state and local governments are looking for ways to cut costs. In October the state’s unemployment rate climbed to 7.3%, up almost a full percent- age point from the September rate of 6.4%. The jobless rate is the highest the state has seen since August 2004.

Portland Metropolitan Area Stock Prices Nov. 2007 to Oct. 2008 160

140

Nike Inc 120 Precision Castparts Corp 100 Flir Systems Inc* Stancorp Financial Group Inc 80 Industries Inc

Dollars Portland General Electrical Co 60 Corp. 40 Northwest Natural Gas Co.

20

0 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 2 /3 /2 /3 /3 /3 /3 /3 /3 /3 0 /3 /3 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 /3 0 0 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 /2 0 /2 /2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 /2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 0 7 7 8

*Split-adjusted price 34.37, Nov. 30, 2007, adjustment factor, 2.00:1 Source: Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/public/us

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