Coeur d’Alene Mines helps lead Northwest stock index into slide

The Hart Capital Index, which tracks 15 major Northwest publicly traded firms, slumped 6.3 percent during the second quarter of 2013.

That slide occurred during a period in which the S&P 500 index rose 2 percent.

Craig Hart, president and chief investment officer of Spokane-based Hart Capital Management Inc., noted the Northwest index slipped due in large part to a 29.5 percent drop by Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp.

Since that mining company is moving its headquarters to Chicago, next quarter the index will no longer include that stock, Hart said.

Banking was the strongest-performing index sector during the quarter.

Northwest Bancorporation, Sterling Financial Corp. and WTB Financial Corp. rose 10 percent, 9.6 percent and 8.3 percent respectively. Every nonfinancial-sector firm in the index lost market value in the quarter.

Over the past 12 months, the Hart index has gained 10.8 percent, while the S&P 500 rose 17.9 percent.

The index is weighted to account for the relative market capitalization of the 15 companies. The firms with the highest market capitalization are Itron Inc., Potlatch Corp. and Avista Corp. Both the Hart index and the S&P 500 started at 100 on Dec. 31, 2002.

Hart Capital does not manage funds in this index and uses it solely to gauge the market performance of regional companies.