How would you like to enjoy dinner for two as guests of Mr. and Mrs. Ticker at your favorite Maryland restaurant? If you would, try to win our 1995 Dow Jones forecasting contest.
And if you're the second closest, you will be our guest at lunch. The next 10 closest crystal ball-gazers will receive new, best-selling hardback financial books, average price $25.
To enter, send your prediction on a postcard (no letters accepted) for the 1995 year-end closing of the Dow Jones industrial average. Mail the card to: Julius Westheimer, Ticker Contest, Business News Department, 5th Floor, The Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278.
Print your whole number prediction (no decimals), name, address and home phone number. Give reasons for your selection if you wish, but they are not required. Only one prediction per person, and a coin flip decides ties. Your postcard must be postmarked by midnight, Sunday, Jan. 29.
Get busy, and don't be afraid to try. You have nothing to lose. Several years ago a Hagerstown truck driver who never heard of the Dow Jones average picked a number, mailed in a postcard and won.
To guide you, here are 1995 year-end predictions, ranked by optimism, by local bankers, brokers, financial analysts, portfolio managers, media stars, etc.:
Rich Dubroff, W$W producer ..... 4,587
Allan Prell, WBAL talk host .....4,444
Alan Walden, WBAL news ..... ... 4,420
M. Wasserman, Prudential ....... 4,365
Larry Adam, Dean Witter ........ 4,300
Barry Salzman, Gruntal ......... 4,296
Bruce Elliott, talk show host ...4,286
Gail Dudack, W$W technician .....4,255
Morry Zolet, CFP ................4,250
Mike Meredith, Merrill Lynch ....4,235
Eddie Brown, Balto. adviser .....4,225
David Clogg, Chapin Davis mgr ...4,224
Joseph Sterne, Sun edit. chief ..4,221
Eugene Blattman, McCormick CEO ..4,216
Mary Junck, Sun publisher .......4,200
Nate Chapman, Chapman Co. .......4,200
James Hardesty, Merc. Safe ......4,189
R. Barbaritta, PaineWebber ......4,180
Craig Lewis, Inv. Coun. Md. .....4,180
Jeffrey Schein, my dentist ......4,175
Anthony Deering, CEO, Rouse .....4,150
Mark Dyer, Ferris Baker Watts ...4,148
George Pinsch, my barber ........4,130
Frank Cappiello, mut. fund mgr ..4,120
Pete Colhoun, inv. adviser ......4,115
Geo. Collins, CEO, Rowe Price ...4,102
Mr. Ticker (Too low in '94) .....4,100
Robert G. Wood, inv. adviser ....4,051
Tom Marr, WCBM talk host ........4,044
M. Oppenheimer '94 winner ....... 4,041
Bob Lopez, 98 Rock .............. 4,000
Marty Bass, Channel 13 anchor ....4,000
Louis Goldstein, Md. Comptr ..... 4,000
Chris Poindexter, CEO, BGE ...... 3,953
Dorrit Westheimer (Mrs. Tkr.) ... 3,924
Norman Blake, CEO, USF&G; ........ 3,900
Keith Girard, publ. Warfields ... 3,900
Dan Rodricks, Sun columnist ..... 3,844
Ron Smith, WBAL talk host ....... 3,840
Liz O' Neill, Ch. 11 anchor ..... 3,798
Rob Brown, inv. adviser ......... 3,750
Rich Palmer, Alex. Brown ........ 3,622
Carter Randall, inv. couns. ..... 3,600
Carolyn Walpert, my sec'y ....... 3,525
Andy Barth, Ch. 2 reporter ...... 3,333
Bob Fisher, Legg Mason ........... 3,300
Fortune teller, Eastern Ave ...... 3,210
James Grant, Wall St. Week ....... 3,200
Martin Zweig, newsletter ed ...... 3,165
Joseph Granville, gloomster ...... 2,350
TO HELP YOU: The closest "expert" forecasters last year were, in order, Myron Oppenheimer (Nationsbank's Baltimore investment chief), Dorrit Westheimer (Mrs. Ticker), the Pulaski Highway fortune teller, Maryland Comptroller Louis Goldstein, investment adviser Robert G. Wood (Wood Capital Management), Mr. Ticker and Frank Cappiello, a mutual fund manager. The Dow Jones industrial average opened this year at 3,833.34, up about 2 percent last year. For more guidance, read Forbes' Jan. 16 cover story, "Sir John Templeton on How to Beat the Market: The Principle of Maximum Pessimism" and Barron's extra-thick, 248-page issue ($3), dated Jan. 9, on newsstands this week, including the article, "Why A Noted Market Guru (James Finucane) Turned Bullish."
Get busy!