Welcome to the Fortune-Tellers Convention

I did not really expect to be writing this post.

Apparently, Maya Angelou had been telling her followers that the world was coming to an end on December 21st, obviating the need for another stock market contest.

However, we are still here, so it is time for the Fifth Annual IcebergCarwash Stock Market Contest.

The rules are simple.

Using the comments section of this blog post, give us your prediction for the closing price of the S&P 500 Index will be on December 31, 2013. The contestant who comes closest will win the contest, and possibly win a prize.

In the past, we've set the deadline for receipt of entries at 9:30AM on the first trading day of the year. This year, however, due to the fact that this post is several days later than usual, we're going to accept your predictions until 9:30AM on Friday, January 4, 2013. I'm sure that the more savvy of our contestants will wait until the first two trading days of the year have passed, and, using historical data, will attempt to predict the direction of the market for the entire year.

I will kick off the process by offering up my prediction. I predict that the S&P 500 will close 2013 at 1525.00, up approximately 7% from this year's closing level of 1426.19.

Good luck to all of our contestants.