Concerned that the current economic malaise could worsen, Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal takes a trip in the Way Back Machine to check out which stocks and sectors performed best during the Great Depression. Fitting, given that so many market commentators are referring to the current time period as the "worst recession since the Great Depression." What Zweig finds is that only one industry posted positive returns from 1930 to 1932: logging. By 1933, when the market finally started to recover, only 13 of 120 different industries were able to generate gains. Of these, there was only "one clear winner" - companies that manufactured "cheap vices" in the form of cigarettes, cigars, sugar and confectionary products, and fats and oils.

With that as backdrop, Zweig offers up three possible investing ideas for the current economic environment: (1) shares of name-brand companies with relatively little debt (2) stocks of firms that enable consumers to indulge in cheap vices (with the exception of tobacco companies) and (3) intermediate-term investment-grade corporate bonds.

What do you think? What sectors or industries will provide shelter from the economic storm?

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[image: Down and Out on New York Pier]