Back On April 15, we launched a Stock Market contest (click link to see insights from the participants) in which a team of Goliaths (personal finance bloggers) were matched up against a team of Davids (people who were not personal finance bloggers). At the end of June, the Dow stood at 8447.00 and had gained average 6.84 points during the course of the contest, making the Davids the favorites.

The market had a very strong July, and ended the month at 9171.61, up 724.61 for the month.

At the end of the day on April 14th (the 104th day of the year), the Dow was at 7920.18.

At the end of the day on July 31 (the 212th day of the day), the Dow was at 9171.61.

This is a gain of 1251.43, or 11.59 points per day. If we assume that the market will contain to gain at exactly the same rate throughout the rest of the year (yes, a ridiculous assumption), the Dow will be at 10945.17 at the end of the year (+ 3024.99 from April 14).

How do our contestants stack up?

TeamPlayerPlayer’s GuessDifference from projection
N/AProjected year end Dow10945.170
DavidPeter Rabbit @ The Soap Boxers95001445.17
No teamKosmo @ The Soap Boxers89991946.17
DavidPhil Ossifer @ The Soap Boxers85002445.17
GoliathTrevor @ Financial Nut85002445.17
DavidBlack Hole8492.482452.69
GoliathHeidi @ Banker Girl84002545.17
GoliathLazy @ Lazy Man and Money82322713.17

I also invited visitors to play along at home. Let’s see how they are doing.

PlayerPlayer’s GuessDifference from projection
Karchy97771168.17
Hilary95001445.17
Jeff78003145.17

At this point, team David is strongly in the lead. What sort of month will August be? I think it will be a strong one, as “cash for clunkers” cash makes it way into the system (and more importantly, the public perceives cash for clunkers as the government giving back to “main street”). If this happens, team David could pull away even further. However, there are certainly a lot of ups and downs yet to be experienced this year!

Share on TwitterSubmit to StumbleUponShare via email

Leave a comment

Share this article via email

Kosmo is the founder of The Soap Boxers and writes on a variety of topics. He is also the author of two books. Mountains, Meadows, and Chasms is an anthology of short stories and Sell Yourself Short is a guide for novice short story writers. Both titles are available for the Kindle.

Like this site? Subscribe via RSS, Subscribe via Email, or Follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

The permanent URL for this article is:
http://www.thesoapboxers.com/stock-market-contest-end-of-july/