They don't call Rex Thornton "The Guru," but I don't know why not.
Rex is a stockbroker for D.A. Davidson & Co., the brokerage house that occupies the first floor and thereby anchors the Deseret News building.If the stock market ever literally collapses, there goes the building.
A year ago I wrote a column about myself and my investing buddy, outdoor editor Ray Grass, trying to buy $100 worth of stock in either the Dow Jones Industrial Averages or a new company called eBay, which, at the time, was increasing in value so fast it made Brazilian currency look like it belonged to the snail family.
But Rex would not let us.
He saved us from us.
He recommended hopping on the technology wave. A safer, wiser bet, he said. Sort of like investing in the cotton gin and steam engines just as the Industrial Revolution was warming up.
For $500 between us -- and keep this quiet because I'm not sure Ray ever told his wife -- he got us into a technology fund called Pimco Innovation Fund. Some of the companies involved are America Online, Microsoft, Dell Computer and Time Warner.
We would keep it for a year, see how we did, and, win or lose, I'd write a column about it.
Last Friday marked the end of the year.
Modesty forbids me from revealing just how much we increased. But it rhymes with "triple."
That was Rex, Ray and myself dining next door at Martine's last week. We let Rex order the sandwich and the pasta.
In spite of the technology boom and general overall economy prosperity, Rex said the past year has been a tough one on stockbrokers.
Too many high rates of return. It's gotten to the point that when an investor doesn't make the surge he made the month before -- such as happened at the end of last week -- he or she goes into a funk. Prosperity's unflattering downside. Whad'ya mean I only made 13 percent!
Also, it's been a tough haul for traditional, non-technology companies that produce things that are easily describable.
During the calendar year 1999, if you had invested $500 in McDonald's, you'd have had $446 at year's end. That same $500 in Disney would have netted $473, in Coca-Cola $478, in Philip Morris $342.
Even if you'd invested $500 in a conservative U.S. 30-year treasury bond, you'd have lost money, ending the year with $458.
On the other hand, $500 in the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average would have made $594, while $500 in the NASDAQ Composite Index would have increased to $827.
During 1999, $500 in the Pimco Innovation Fund increased to $1,029.
By early March the value was more than $1,500. Since then it has tailed off slightly.
Some technology funds have done even better. But Ray and I don't care about that. Ray and I say, Rex Thornton for president.
Like any broker, or basketball coach, always Rex low keys yesterday's successes.
Hey, if he knew what the market was going to do, he'd have his own money in it.
All kinds of things can affect its ebb and flow. Political change. Scandals. Weather disasters. The Cubs winning the Series.
It's not known if anyone even understands it.
What is known for sure is it's a lovely thing when the numbers are green and the percentages are high.
Then you can scream, like Ray did: Why didn't we invest more!?
One good reason: because we had to borrow what we did invest.
Now that we do have our windfall, our question, is, naturally: Has the Technology Revolution peaked?
Two schools of thought on that, said Rex.
Yes and No.
We will keep you posted.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.