Jan. 1--2008 was not the year to fill 'er up on stocks of high-end motor home makers.

401(k) statements shrunk and consumer confidence drove into a ditch. Banks teetered on the edge of a cliff and credit crashed.

In short, the conditions didn't encourage people to throw discretionary income at a $600,000 motor home. Through August, high-end motor home sales were down 40 percent.

That pretty much sums up how the year went for Coburg's Monaco Coach Corp.

Monaco's stock lost 94 percent of its value in 2008 ranking it last among 46 companies in The Oregonian Index of public companies in Oregon and southwest Washington.

"It's been a very challenging market for the entire industry," said Craig Wanichek, director of investor relations.

Wanichek said two things signaled trouble for the company last year: Consumer confidence fell to a 40-year low and banks tightened their reins on lending, cutting off the cash the company's dealers and customers use to buy motor homes that run $75,000 and up.

The company reported a net loss of $71.8 million in the quarter that ended in September compared with net income of $3.7 million in the same quarter a year earlier. For the year, the company's stock fell from $8.89 a share to a Wednesday close of 51 cents.

Of course, Monaco was just one of dozens of local companies that trudged through a very rough 2008.

The Oregonian Index as a whole tumbled 40 percent compared with a 33 percent decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and 38 percent drop in the S&P 500.

The number of companies in the index shrunk again this year when Pope & Talbot, a 159-year-old forest products company based in Portland, liquidated in Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Only two companies posted stock gains in 2008: Pacific Continental Corp., a Eugene bank, and Northwest Pipe, a Vancouver company that makes steel pipe for water systems.

Flir Systems Inc., which makes night-vision and heat-sensing equipment, ranked third with a stock loss of about 2 percent. The Wilsonville company led the rankings in 2007.

Stock losses spread from Oregon's only two Fortune 500 companies -- Nike and Precision Castparts Corp. -- to all sectors: sportswear, high-tech, auto dealers and more.

In most years, investors wouldn't consider a 25 percent stock loss moderate. But the relatively moderate losses included sportswear companies Nike, Columbia Sportswear, and boot-maker LaCrosse Footwear Inc.

Beyond Monaco Coach, stocks for technology companies Merix Corp. of Forest Grove and Planar Systems Inc. of Hillsboro also tumbled at or more than 90 percent.

Columbia Bancorp, parent to Columbia River Bank of The Dalles, fell 88 percent on its struggling real estate construction loan portfolio.

Told his company ranked among the five worst stock performers, bank CEO Terry Cochran said: "Well, I guess I'm pleased we were not first. It's not a list I want to be on."

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