And ... We Have a Winner!

Yesterday's closing prices for oil and gold were $61.05 and $636.00, respectively, making Chris Ray the winner of the inaugural "Guess the Year-End Prices of Oil and Gold" contest.

Chris wins a one-year subscription to Iacono Research, where the commodities-based model portfolio just ended the year with a gain of over 25 percent (not bad, considering the CRB Index ended the year at minus nine percent).

Here's the final result in graphic form - the movement toward the congested area in the middle of the chart will have to wait for the New Year.
A list of the top-ten finishers, out of about three dozen guesses, shows how close the finish actually was. A difference of one or two percent in either the price of oil or gold would have made the order of the list below quite different, sherodz coming from out of nowhere to sneak into second place after not being in the top six in either of the most recent updates.
Honorable mention goes to TJ & the Bear with bold guesses of $90 and $900 that were off by a combined total of 89 percent - these are both excellent guesses, just not for 2006.

Thanks to all who participated - this will surely be repeated next year and maybe some other fun contests will be conducted in the months ahead. Maybe something like, "Guess the Date that Gold Makes New Multi-Decade Highs", or something along those lines with a shorter title.

Anyway, Chris - congratulations.

Please send me mail so I can get an account set up for you.