Jan. 4--There were probably more than a few investors and money managers who sent up a cheer, and a sigh or relief, when the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve. Finally, the stock market nightmare of 2008 was over. Or, at least 2008 was over.

"I've been through a good number of recessions and bear markets. I'll readily admit this is the worst I've ever seen it," said Todd Parrish, analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co., Milwaukee.

"Realistically, for many, many stocks, it's been a lost decade," he said. "Great companies like Intel and IBM -- their stocks are trading where they did a decade ago."

The publicly traded companies based in Wisconsin were among those paying a heavy price. It was not uncommon to see shares of some of the state's big industrial businesses lose 80 percent to 90 percent of the value they enjoyed just a year or two earlier.

Of 60 Wisconsin companies whose shares are bought and sold on Wall Street, only seven recorded stock price gains in 2008: National Presto Industries, Marten Transport, Wausau Paper Corp., Weyco Group, Bank Mutual Corp., Merge Healthcare and Marcus Corp.

All six Madison-based publicly traded companies lost value in 2008, some as much as nearly 90 percent.

"The severity of the decline has been what's surprised me," said John Nelson, small company stocks investment director for the state Investment Board. "It's been a tough year for myself and just about anybody else who's running a stock portfolio unless they've had a significant amount of cash."

Wall Street's stats for 2008 are testimony to how stunningly terrible the year was:

--The Dow lost 33.8 percent for the year and was down 38 percent from its record close of 14,165.53 in October 2007, making it the Dow's worst year since 1931, when the country was deep into the Depression.

--The Standard & Poor's 500 index, the indicator most watched by market pros, lost 38.5 percent in 2008 and is down 44.8 percent from its 2007 high of 1,565.15.

--The Nasdaq composite index fell 40.5 percent during 2008 and ended the year off 44.8 percent from its most recent high in October 2007. The tech-heavy index peaked at 5,048.62 during the dot-com bubble at the start of the decade.

Of the six local stocks, MGE Energy, parent of Madison Gas & Electric, fared best, closing 2008 at $33.11 a share, down less than 6.7 percent from a year ago, at $35.47.

(The Wisconsin stock prices, and percentage change, for this year-end report were provided by Baird. The prices are adjusted for dividends and splits.)

The other local utility stock, Alliant Energy, ended the year at $29.21, off 28.2 percent from last year.

Alliant shares peaked in spring 2007 at $46, after the company sold some foreign investments, including a stake in a Brazilian utility business.