If you have been holding your breath since asset values started to decline last year, we suggest you relax and breathe a little. From April through June most of the stock, real estate, and commodity mutual funds we use increased in value by 15% to 35%. April and May were among the best months for many years in several asset classes. You can see a few examples of that in the chart to the right. As we’ve said many times, extreme downturns are usually followed by very rapid upswings.