Some of last year's biggest gainers were shares in Internet brokerage companies, firms offering discount transactions through online accounts. It's fair to say a good deal of retail investors are under water. And they took the market capitalization of those online brokers down with them. Customers were significantly less active in the fourth quarter. Despite the dismal showing, most investors have stood firm.
People think the only way to get back losses is to stay the course.
An exemplar of that stoicism is Sheila Bence, a retiree in Plymouth on England's southwest coast. We'll ride out the storm. I've been through a few before. Although tech stocks bore the brunt of the fall, Old Economy shares weren't entirely spared. In Germany, many financial advisers warned investors to stay clear of Internet stocks and instead invest in establishment firms like DaimlerChrysler, the auto manufacturer.