Here are the only S&P 500 stocks that have been winners

— -- Q: Did any stocks actually rise in value during 2008 and so far this year? Are those the stocks to buy?

A: It's easy to focus on the negatives of the bear market. But there have been some positives.

Despite the historic bear market that has chewed up more than half of many investors' stock portfolios, there are a few stocks that actually rose in value between Dec. 31, 2007 and April. 23, 2009.

The list is at left, but to put this into perspective, remember that the vast majority of stocks lost value in 2008 and 2009 so far. In fact, 480 of 496 current members of the S&P 500 that were trading at the end of 2007 lost value through April. 23 this year, according to Standard & Poor's Capital IQ. So, if you didn't own any of the stocks that rose, don't think you did something wrong.

I'd also like to caution you against looking at the list of stocks at left and assuming they will continue to rise. It's somewhat rare for one year's winning stock to be next year's winner. Sure, some winners repeat. But that's not an investment strategy you can rely on.

With all that said, at left is a list of the 16 stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 index that actually rose in value between Dec. 31, 2007 and April 23.

Matt Krantz is a financial markets reporter at USA TODAY and author of Investing Online for Dummies. He answers a different reader question every weekday in his Ask Matt column at money.usatoday.com. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com. Click here to see previous Ask Matt columns.