Linda Wong:
"This is, like, real?"Teen picks the Dow
within a point
Linda Wong of Kaimuki
By Russ Lynch
wins $1,000 in Star-Bulletin contest
Star-BulletinA 17-year-old high school student who says she doesn't know anything about the stock market over-guessed Friday's closing Dow Jones industrial average by less than a third of a point. That made Linda Wong, who is about to be a senior at Kaimuki High School, the winner of $1,000 in the Star-Bulletin's eighth annual Pick the Dow contest.
Filing out her entry on the last day to enter, June 28, Wong guessed the Dow would close Aug. 1 at 8,194.32. Its actual close was just .28 below that at 8,194.04.
Wong was surprised to get a call from the Star-Bulletin -- she didn't remember entering. "I enter a lot of things. This is, like, real?" she said. "Wow, that's awesome!"
Wong's entry was one of more than 2,900 in this year's contest, which marked the first time the prize was $1,000. She was one of eight entrants whose guesses were within 5 points of the closing mark and the next closest was within 1.15 point of winning.
The Dow rose more than 500 points between the entry deadline and the end of trading Friday, a rise of 6.6 percent. When Wong penciled in her entry, the Dow had closed at 7,682.72.
Wong said she doesn't do any investing and doesn't follow the market.
When she finishes high school next year she wants to go to art school on the mainland.
