Colorado stocks are in total wipeout mode.

Just four companies in the 100-member Bloomberg Rocky Mountain News Colorado Index are in positive territory for the year through Wednesday.

The index as a whole is down 42.5 percent for the year, a loss far outpacing other major stock indexes: The Standard & Poor's 500 and the broad-based Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 are each down 33 percent in 2008.

There are 16 Colorado stocks down 70 percent or more, including two - Denver-based Biofuel Energy and Niwot-based Crocs - that have lost more than 90 percent of their value.

There are 42 stocks down 50 percent or more.

The carnage has occurred even though Colorado had few publicly traded banks or financial stocks, one of the weakest sectors in the current meltdown.

Historically, Colorado's mix of energy and mining companies and small- and microcap stocks has served the state well. The Bloomberg Colorado has typically beaten the S&P 500 by several percentage points each year.

That streak looks to end in 2008. Volatile third-quarter oil prices killed the energy stocks, while investors seemed to judge many other Colorado companies highly susceptible to a slowdown.

The top-performing stock is Denver's Royal Gold, up 30.3 percent.

Finance Editor David Milstead can be reached at milstead@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2648.

COLORADO STOCKS

* Five best-performing, year to date through Wednesday:

Royal Gold up 30.2 percent

EchoStar up 18.3 percent

Emergency Medical Services up 8.3 percent

UDR up 1.0 percent

CSG Systems down 2.6 percent

* Five worst-performing, year to date through Wednesday:

Crocs down 93.3 percent

Biofuel Energy down 93.3 percent

The Parent Co. down 84.3 percent

Ascent Solar down 82.8 percent

General Moly down 82.1 percent