Laboratory Industry Report

The historic falls on Wall Street continued to impact the lab industry through late September and early October. For the week ended Oct. 17, 2008, the G-2 Laboratory Index was down 29 percent over the past five weeks and 30 percent so far in 2008. None of the 14 publicly traded labs tracked by the Index showed any growth over the past four weeks. In fact, all except one are down in the double digits compared to the previous four weeks. In addition, Nasdaq and S&P have yet to lift. The Nasdaq is down 36 percent, while the S&P 500 is down 36.38 percent so far in 2008.