Beware of Market Gurus Pushing New Strategies: Roger Lowenstein

One cheer for James K. Glassman, the investment writer and co-author, in 1999, of “Dow 36,000.” That book, published when the stock market was near a dot-com-charged speculative peak, urged investors to load up on shares. The Dow, the authors prophesied, would reach the gaudy figure in their title most likely in “three to five years.”

The market crashed soon after. The Dow didn’t get close to 36,000, and the book became a symbol of New Economy hysteria. (Glassman’s co-author was economist Kevin Hassett, a Bloomberg News columnist and, to me, a frequently helpful source.)