2008 has been a disastrous year for investors. The broad US market index S&P 500 decline was a scary 37% . European and Asian markets have lost even more - in some cases over 50%.

Just one sector has been proven to be resistant to this financial hurricane: pharmaceuticals.
In terms of pharmaceuticals ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds that merely track an index in a passive way) the 1 year result (up to the 23 January 2009) of the SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals (ticket XPH) was -10.44% and the Powershares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals (ticket PJP that uses a custom index) - 12.79%.

Since my CNBC appearance, they both gained slightly more with an up to date (7 February) performance of - 6.65% for the XPH and -10.52% for the PJP.

According to Morningstar the actively managed mutual funds lost, on average, 21.01%. This is yet another demonstration that very often (if not in 99% of the cases) active managers fail to maintain their promise to outperform their benchmark index. In my latest CNBC appearance I share my view regarding the current market and my belief that pharmaceuticals companies are better equipped than others to survive this major financial crisis.

More details will be available on the February issue of the Dean's letter I should be able to finalise this issue within next week.

Once again many sincere thanks for watching.

David