The first half of 2008 dramatically reinforced the idea that over the short term, the stock market can be extremely volatile. A sharply negative first quarter was followed by two months of positive returns, but the stock market sell off resumed in June. The S&P 500 was down 11.9 percent for the first half of this year with international markets down 12.7 percent. There were some bright spots, specifically investment-grade bonds that experienced positive returns for the year; however, according to Morningstar, the average intermediate bond mutual fund was down 0.6 percent. The financial sector took a big hit in the first half; Citicorp was down 43 percent, Wells Fargo was off 21 percent, and some major banks are in serious trouble.