12:20 PM -- I was recently perusing some year-end investment figures in the Wall Street Journal, as supplied by Birinyi Associates. It's not exactly what you'd expect.

For example, here were some of the best performing global stock markets in 2005:

And then here's the United States: -0.6% (DJIA)
Doubling down on Zimbabwe -- now why didn't I think of that?

Oh, and if you're wondering how the telecommunications industry group finished -- don't ask. It was down 7.6%. But that's not as bad as the consumer electronics group, which fell 22% and was the worst investment group, according to Dow Jones.

— R. Scott Raynovich, Editor in Chief, Light Reading