By Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director, PD&D

"In reviewing this week’s Product Design & Development Stock Index, the only bright spot was in the medical sector."

Yes, I know how bad that sounds and my sympathies to you or any ailing friends or family members, but in reviewing this week’s Product Design & Development Stock Index, the only bright spot was in the medical sector. Each of the others (Military/Aerospace, Automotive, Industrial and Consumer Electronics) posted losses and only two of the 50 companies we track showed gains over last week. Overall, the index dropped almost 50 points from 1309.71 to 1260.35

Automotive looks especially challenging with key suppliers Arvin-Meritor (ARM), Lear (LEA), American Axle (AXL) and Modine (MOD) all seeing their stock values drop below $1.00/share.

On the bright side, I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that many of these stocks will bounce back next week, and the Index will creep steadily back to the land of the 1300s where it belongs. Wall Street’s revolt against the new stimulus plan can’t last too long, and with tax refunds and other more immediate dollars being pushed into the economy, there should be some positive postings next week.

Also, in addition to the positive performances of medial device manufacturers Medtronic (MDT) and Smith & Nephew (SNN) is the continued redemption of automotive supplier Federal-Mogul. Although it’s not blowing anybody away with a current market value of just under $7.00/share, it has seen the greatest percentage increase since December of all those tracked by the PD&D Index. FM and industrial supplier Grainger (GWW) were the only positive performers for the week. The other sectors saw an average decline of 10 points from the week previous.