During this five years and six months period of time from March 6, 2009 through September 12, 2014, these 3 States.....Washington, Oregon and Montana..... had Democratic Governors and also both of their US Senators were Democrats.
I found 64 Companies Headquartered in these 3 progressive US Northwestern States in Google or Yahoo's superb Finance websites with current Total Stock Market Capitalizations of at least $100 mil and which also had their common stocks trading on each of the following three dates:
- On December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second term.....before the 2008 financial meltdown
- On March 6, 2009, very early in President Obama's first term, which was the lowest point for the US stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the 2008 financial meltdown, and
- also on the most recent date September 12, 2014
The historical stock prices of these companies were obtained from the following two excellent internet resources.... Google Finance and MarketWatch Big Charts.
These 65 US Northwestern States Companies had their equally-company-weighted average stock market prices decline by a massive 60% from December 31, 2007 during President Bush's second Presidential term, to March 6, 2009, very early in President Obama's first term, which was the very lowest point for the overall stock market due to the spillover effects resulting from the disastrous 2008 Financial Meltdown.
But in the five years and six months since March 6, 2009 through September 12, 2014, the equally-company-weighted average stock market prices of these same 65 US Northwestern States Companies have increased by a phenomenal 531%.
Thus in the six years and eight months from December 31, 2007 before the 2008 financial meltdown to the most recent date September 12, 2014, the equally-company-weighted average stock market prices of these same 65 US Northwestern States Companies have increased by a spectacular 95%...... yeah, they have not just recouped what they lost with the 2008 financial meltdown, but also added another 95%.
Below here are the stock market prices of each of these 65 US Northwestern States Companies in the 3 progressive States of Washington, Oregon and Montana on September 12, 2014, on March 6, 2009, and on December 31, 2007, along with the related Stock Market Price Percentage Changes:
| Market | Market | Market | ||||||
| Price | Price | Price | ||||||
| % | % | % | ||||||
| Change | Change | Change | ||||||
| Market | Market | Market | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 12-31-07 | |||
| Price | Price | Price | to | to | to | |||
| HQs | 9-12-14 | 3-6-09 | 12-31-07 | 9-12-14 | 3-6-09 | 9-12-14 | ||
| $s | $s | $s | ||||||
| KITZHABOR | ||||||||
| MERKLEY | ||||||||
| & WYDEN | ||||||||
| Oregon Company | ||||||||
| Lithia Motors | Medford | OR | 82.97 | 1.98 | 13.73 | 4090% | -86% | 504% |
| The Greenbrier Companies | Lake Oswego | OR | 71.97 | 1.93 | 22.26 | 3629% | -91% | 223% |
| Craft Brew Alliance | Portland | OR | 12.65 | 0.95 | 6.65 | 1232% | -86% | 90% |
| TriQuint Semiconductor | Hillsboro | OR | 20.18 | 2.05 | 6.63 | 884% | -69% | 204% |
| FEI Company | Hillsboro | OR | 84.14 | 11.82 | 24.83 | 612% | -52% | 239% |
| Lattice Semiconductor | Hillsboro | OR | 7.52 | 1.13 | 3.25 | 565% | -65% | 131% |
| Mentor Graphics | Wilsonville | OR | 22.10 | 3.44 | 10.78 | 542% | -68% | 105% |
| Rentrak Corp | Portland | OR | 55.90 | 9.49 | 14.46 | 489% | -34% | 287% |
| Precision Castparts | Portland | OR | 239.96 | 49.05 | 138.70 | 389% | -65% | 73% |
| StanCorp Financial Group | Portland | OR | 64.74 | 14.73 | 50.38 | 340% | -71% | 29% |
| Nike | Beaverton | OR | 81.84 | 19.97 | 32.12 | 310% | -38% | 155% |
| Cascade Microtech | Beaverton | OR | 10.40 | 2.75 | 10.19 | 278% | -73% | 2% |
| Blount Intl | Portland | OR | 15.82 | 4.72 | 12.31 | 235% | -62% | 29% |
| Columbia Sportswear | Portland | OR | 75.97 | 25.73 | 44.09 | 195% | -42% | 72% |
| Umpqua Holdings | Portland | OR | 17.55 | 6.91 | 15.34 | 154% | -55% | 14% |
| FLIR Systems | Wilsonville | OR | 33.44 | 19.59 | 31.30 | 71% | -37% | 7% |
| Electro Scientific Industries | Portland | OR | 7.35 | 5.11 | 19.85 | 44% | -74% | -63% |
| Pacific Continental | Eugene | OR | 13.12 | 10.44 | 12.52 | 26% | -17% | 5% |
| Schnitzer Steel Industries | Portland | OR | 25.72 | 25.57 | 69.13 | 1% | -63% | -63% |
| Cascade Bancorp | Bend | OR | 5.24 | 8.40 | 139.20 | -38% | -94% | -96% |
| Average % Change all 20 Oregon Companies | 702% | -62% | 97% | |||||
| INSLEE | ||||||||
| MURRAY & | ||||||||
| CANTWELL | ||||||||
| Washington Company | ||||||||
| Nautilis Inc | Vancouver | WA | 12.64 | 0.50 | 4.85 | 2428% | -90% | 161% |
| Clearwater Paper | Spokane | WA | 70.83 | 3.25 | 11.25 | 2079% | -71% | 530% |
| Expedia | Bellevue | WA | 86.55 | 6.08 | 29.74 | 1322% | -80% | 191% |
| Isoray | Richland | WA | 2.43 | 0.18 | 2.01 | 1250% | -91% | 21% |
| Alaska Air Group | Seattle | WA | 47.27 | 3.77 | 6.25 | 1154% | -40% | 656% |
| Key Tronic | Spokane Valley | WA | 10.50 | 0.90 | 4.18 | 1067% | -78% | 151% |
| Cray Inc | Seattle | WA | 26.55 | 2.43 | 5.99 | 993% | -59% | 343% |
| Starbucks | Seattle | WA | 75.47 | 8.36 | 20.47 | 803% | -59% | 269% |
| Barrett Business Services | Vancouver | WA | 57.42 | 8.14 | 18.01 | 605% | -55% | 219% |
| F5 Networks | Seattle | WA | 125.08 | 18.75 | 28.52 | 567% | -34% | 339% |
| Concur Technologies | Bellevue | WA | 110.06 | 18.52 | 36.21 | 494% | -49% | 204% |
| Seattle Genetics | Bothell | WA | 41.39 | 7.23 | 11.40 | 472% | -37% | 263% |
| Nordstrom | Seattle | WA | 69.08 | 12.16 | 36.73 | 468% | -67% | 88% |
| Esterline Technologies | Bellevue | WA | 114.43 | 20.89 | 51.75 | 448% | -60% | 121% |
| Amazon | Seattle | WA | 331.19 | 61.69 | 92.64 | 437% | -33% | 258% |
| Columbia Banking System | Tacoma | WA | 26.64 | 5.55 | 29.73 | 380% | -81% | -10% |
| Weyerhauser | Federal Way | WA | 33.09 | 6.99 | 26.62 | 373% | -74% | 24% |
| Zumiez | Lynnwood | WA | 29.55 | 6.43 | 24.36 | 360% | -74% | 21% |
| TrueBlue | Tacoma | WA | 27.18 | 6.17 | 14.48 | 341% | -57% | 88% |
| Boeing | Chicago | IL | 126.95 | 30.10 | 87.46 | 322% | -66% | 45% |
| Pope Resources | Poulsbo | WA | 67.10 | 16.45 | 42.75 | 308% | -62% | 57% |
| RealNetworks | Seattle | WA | 7.62 | 2.02 | 6.09 | 277% | -67% | 25% |
| Pendrell | Kirkland | WA | 1.43 | 0.39 | 3.18 | 268% | -88% | -55% |
| Costco | Issaquah | WA | 125.37 | 38.98 | 69.76 | 222% | -44% | 80% |
| Blucora | Bellevue | WA | 16.35 | 5.28 | 18.80 | 210% | -72% | -13% |
| Microsoft | Redmond | WA | 46.70 | 15.28 | 35.60 | 206% | -57% | 31% |
| Banner Corp | Walla Walla | WA | 39.78 | 13.86 | 201.11 | 187% | -93% | -80% |
| PACCAR | Bellevue | WA | 60.14 | 21.07 | 54.48 | 185% | -61% | 10% |
| Marchex Inc | Seattle | WA | 8.66 | 3.15 | 17.30 | 175% | -82% | -50% |
| Oncothyreon | Seattle | WA | 2.24 | 0.90 | 2.23 | 148% | -60% | 0% |
| Outerwall Inc | Bellevue | WA | 61.64 | 25.39 | 28.15 | 143% | -10% | 119% |
| Washington Federal | Seattle | WA | 21.64 | 10.04 | 21.11 | 115% | -52% | 2% |
| T-Mobile US | Bellevue | WA | 30.83 | 14.36 | 19.45 | 115% | -26% | 59% |
| Heritage Financial | Olympia | WA | 16.66 | 9.59 | 19.90 | 74% | -52% | -16% |
| Expeditors Intl Washington | Seattle | WA | 42.41 | 24.60 | 44.68 | 72% | -45% | -5% |
| Plum Creek Timber | Seattle | WA | 39.63 | 24.02 | 46.04 | 65% | -48% | -14% |
| Cell Therapeutics | Seattle | WA | 2.61 | 1.70 | 564.00 | 54% | -100% | -100% |
| Northwest Pipe | Vancouver | WA | 35.98 | 24.21 | 39.14 | 49% | -38% | -8% |
| First Financial Northwest | Renton | WA | 10.55 | 7.11 | 9.84 | 48% | -28% | 7% |
| Blue Nile | Seattle | WA | 29.96 | 21.54 | 68.06 | 39% | -68% | -56% |
| Itron | Liberty Lake | WA | 41.28 | 41.91 | 51.84 | -2% | -19% | -20% |
| Dendreon | Seattle | WA | 1.39 | 2.61 | 6.22 | -47% | -58% | -78% |
| Average % Change all 42 Washington Companies | 459% | -59% | 92% | |||||
| BULLOCK | ||||||||
| BAUCUS | ||||||||
| TESTER | ||||||||
| & WALSH | ||||||||
| Montana Company | ||||||||
| Eagle Bancorp | Helena | MT | 33.56 | 4.91 | 10.00 | 584% | -51% | 236% |
| Stillwater Mining | Billings | MT | 17.00 | 2.81 | 9.66 | 505% | -71% | 76% |
| Glacier Bancorp | Kalispell | MT | 28.13 | 12.21 | 18.74 | 130% | -35% | 50% |
| Average % Change all 3 Montana Companies | 406% | -52% | 121% | |||||
| Average % Change all 65 Companies in all 3 US Northwest States (Oregon, Washington & Montana) | 531% | -60% | 95% | |||||
In addition to the above 65 US Northwest State Companies, there were another 9 US Northwest State Companies shown below which have filed Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) since 2009 and had their stock market prices increase by 30% or better from their Initial Offering Prices. Zillow led the nine pack here with its stock market price increasing more than 5 times. Five of the Nine here had their stock market prices increase by 93% or more.
| % | ||||||||
| Market | ||||||||
| Price | ||||||||
| 9-10-14 | Change | |||||||
| Stock | Initial | From | ||||||
| IPO | City | State | Market | Offering | Offering | |||
| Date | US Northwest State Company IPO | HQs | Sector | Industry | Price | Price | Price | |
| $ | $ | |||||||
| 7/20/11 | Zillow | Seattle | WA | Technology | Internet Information Providers | 127.92 | 20.00 | 540% |
| 5/17/13 | Tableau Software | Seattle | WA | Technology | Application Software | 77.16 | 31.00 | 149% |
| 11/15/13 | zulily | Seattle | WA | Technology | Catalog & Mail Order House | 36.49 | 15.00 | 143% |
| 1/22/10 | Symetra Financial | Bellevue | WA | Financial | Life Insurance | 23.92 | 12.00 | 99% |
| 3/24/10 | First Interstate BancSystem | Billings | MT | Financial | Regional Banks | 28.03 | 14.50 | 93% |
| 4/11/12 | Erickson Air-Crane | Portland | OR | Industrial Goods | Aerospace/Defense | 13.65 | 8.00 | 71% |
| 10/8/09 | Omeros | Seattle | WA | Health Care | Biotechnology | 14.45 | 10.00 | 45% |
| 6/26/13 | NanoString Technologies | Seattle | WA | Health Care | Biotechnology | 13.03 | 10.00 | 30% |
| 5/8/14 | Alder BioPharmaceuticals | Bothell | WA | Health Care | Biotechnology | 12.98 | 10.00 | 30% |
On the unemployment front, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, below here is a breakdown of the seasonally adjusted Unemployment Rates of each of these 3 US Northwest States in July 2014, in October 2009 and in December 2007:
| Unemployment | Unemployment | Unemployment | |
| Rate: | Rate: | Rate: | |
| July | October | December | |
| 2014 | 2009 | 2007 | |
| Washington | 5.6% | 9.9% | 4.6% |
| Oregon | 6.9% | 11.0% | 5.2% |
| Montana | 4.6% | 6.5% | 3.7% |
US Northwest State Citizens must be very pleased with both the outstanding performance of nearly all of their US Northwest Area Companies as well as the substantial drop in the Unemployment rates during the most recent roughly five years.
