This article from Yahoo Finance will inform you that the major indexes of the American stock market all closed at record highs last Friday.  During the same week the 3rd Quarter of the year closed and the Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index (DCI) reported a close that indicated a 3.60% increase for the year-to-date.

Below you will see a chart of the individual four stocks that make up the Funeral Director Daily DCI Index and how they have performed in comparison to the major indexes for the Year-to-Date (YTD) 2025 up to the end of the 3rd Quarter on September 30 2025.  You will notice that the DCI trails every sector with the possible exception of Consumer Staples for stock price appreciation for YTD 2025.  One possible reason for this, however, is the small sample size of public companies with at least a portion of their business in Death Care.

As you can see funeral home, cemetery, and crematory operators Carriage Services and Service Corporation International have had positive results, as far as stock price apprecition goes,  so far in 2025 while the other two members of the DCI, Matthews International and Security National Financial Corporation have seen their stock price drop during the year.  It’s difficult to know why, but both Matthews International and Security National Financial have other operations outside of Death Care which may be holding back their stock appreciation in what has been, as noticed by the stock index gains, a rather robust period for public stock investors.

Market Segments performance for YTD 2025 up to September 30.  Source:  LPL Research Factset

How About the Long-Term:  Just for the fun of it I went back to October 3, 2015, and looked at price appreciation (as recorded on Yahoo Finance) of the major indexes and also of the stocks that make up the Death Care Index.  If you had had $10,000 of either the index or a particular stock on October 3, 2015 and still held the index or stock, here’s what those indexes or stocks would be worth today (10/03/2025):

• Dow Jones Industrials Index:  $28,502
• Nasdaq Composite Index:  $50,780
• S&P 500 Index:  $34,992

And, here’s a chart of the Death Care Index values for the that hypothetical $10,000 investment as of October 3, 2015:

Related Information:

Disclaimer:  The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder of Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, and Security National Financial Corporation.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

The end of trading on Monday marked the end of the first-half of the year for stocks.  And, it was a significant day as on Monday the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both recorded All-Time highs in their numbers.  However, as you may know, the road to the record in 2025 was not a straight climb without a little descent put into the numbers on the way to the records.

In 2025, stocks moved very high into February and then receded. . . and further receded after President Trump announced his “Liberation Day” of tariffs on foreign country products coming into the United States.  As that issue worked its way through the markets and other contemporary issues such as inflation, debt, interest rates, and the potential tax bill moved forward the markets took a turn for the better culminating with those record highs on Monday.

At the end of the day following that roller-coaster ride of six months the major indexes settled up for the period as such. . . S&P 500 up 5.10%, Nasdaq up 4.98%, and the Dow Jones Industrials up 3.36%.

Funeral Director Daily’s Death Care Index (DCI) which consists of the the American public companies bringing in a large share of their revenue from Death Care industry sales also rose for the half-year.  However, the DCI lagged the three major indexes with an absolute increase of 0.95% which, when rounded like the other indexes comes in a a 1.0% increase.

The DCI is comprised of four stocks — Matthews International, Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, and Security National Financial Corporation.  One share of each of those stocks was worth a combined total of $159.38 on January 1, 2025, and those same shares climbed to a value of $160.90 as of the close of business on June 30, 2025.

As you can see, Carriage Services was the half-year gains leader among DCI stocks with a 14.78% return.

Disclosure —  The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder of Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, and Security National Financial Corporation.

Funeral Director Daily take:  It’s certainly been an interesting six months, not only watching the markets, but watching the world.  I’m guessing that a new president in the Oval Office and how he operates has something to do with the “ups and downs” of today’s market.

As for Death Care specifically, the lack of value movement to the upside or the downside does not surprise me.  I think that there is a lot of anxiety and caution about the direction of Death Care business.  Certainly, direct cremation, do-it-yourself memorial services, and other changes have investors wondering how those decisions will affect traditional funeral homes and cemeteries.  And, on the positive side, I think some investors are expecting technological advances to begin to show financial improvements in Death Care businesses.  I expect as these changes move out into reality and are quantified, public investment in Death Care will eventually move one way or another.

As for the overall market, I don’t remember a time when there seemed to be so many “balls in the air” on the front burner that have some financial or political ramifications to them that can affect the market.  We have inflation, interest rates, debt and deficits, tariffs, tax bills, world peace initiatives, and more that will affect how we do business moving forward  —  and the stock market will be a reflection of how that politics and business, including Death Care, moves forward.

Here’s some articles on the subjects for your 4th of July lakeside reading:

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Today is December 2 and we are into the last month of 2024.  If you are involved in investments — and virtually everybody in this day and age of 401k’s, IRA’s, 529 Plans, and the like is – you have to admit it’s been a pretty good year.  And finally, it has even been a good year for the Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index (DCI).

The Funeral Director Daily DCI was started a few years ago to measure the direction of the aggregate Death Care public stock price sentiment.  Very seldom over that time has its numbers kept up with the broader based indexes, but at least for the first 11 months of 2024 it is doing just that.  Up until 2024 it has appeared that the investing public was not as confident in Death Care companies as they were in the overall broad-based market businesses.

That seems to have changed for 2024 though as stock price appreciation in public Death Care companies kept up with the marked indexes in general.

To be sure, the DCI is not scientific, not price weighted, and offers a very small sample size of companies but does give a general direction of what has happened in the overall Death Care stock market picture.  Over the years, the sample size of the DCI has dwindled as a full 1/2 of the original companies have moved out of the public market for one reason or another.

The Funeral Director Daily DCI price is comprised of owning one share of stock in each of the following four public companies who has at least a part of their business touch the Death Care space:  Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, Security National Financial Corporation, and Matthews International.

As of the close of business on Friday, November 29, 2024, the composite DCI price stood at $172.38 as compared to the closing price to close out 2023 of $138.68.   That’s an increase of 24.3%

When you compare that price to the same numbers for the broader indexes of the stock market, here’s how it compares:

• Death Care Index:  +24.3%
• Dow Jones Industrials:  +18.24%
• NASDAQ:  +28.0%
• S&P 500:  +25.2%

And, here’s the fate of each individual company stock that make up the DCI on a Year-to-Date basis:

The Shrinking members of the DCI — When the DCI was founded by Funeral Director Daily it contained eight public stock members.  Four of those companies, or the Death Care portions of those public companies are no longer in the public realm.  Here’s what happened to each of those companies accompanied by an article on each situation:

Disclaimer-— The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily holds stock positions in Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, and Security National Financial Corporation.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”