Stock Market Game: Champion good as gold with big finish for victory

John Eck compares the late surge that carried him to victory in The News-Press Stock Market Game to winning the Indy 500 on the last lap.


He didn’t take the lead until the last day of trading.


“What counts is who is leading on lap 500,” he said.


But, in Eck’s case, the win might have just as much in common with winning a gold medal.


Eck, 63, of North Fort Myers, posted a gain of $13,359.76 over the eight-week contest to beat more than 1,800 competitors and win the $500 prize.


The game asks participants to invest $50,000 in play money in five stocks, buying only whole shares. 


There is no trading during the eight weeks of the game and the contestant with the largest gain over their initial investment is the winner. School classrooms compete in a separate contest for $250.

 


Eck’s portfolio, like most of the top 10, was weighted in gold mining stocks. His biggest winner was The Seabridge Gold Corp., a Canadian mining exploration company. The stock value gained 58 percent in the eight weeks of the contest.


“I looked for what would go up in a down market,” Eck said. “Then, I just had to put those picks against the others who went with gold.”


The major market indexes all declined during the span of the game, with the Standard & Poors 500 Index down the most at about 7.6 percent.


In that challenging environment, just 387 contestants — a little more than one in five —