Ammo For The New Year

It was December, 1972, and Richard Nixon had just defeated George McGovern in a landslide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had just closed above 1000 for the first time ever--the financial equivalent of running the four-minute mile. In that heady climate, BUSINESS WEEK created its first yearend investment outlook issue.

It turned out to be a rough passage for both Nixon and the investor. But even so, our traditional issue has thrived during the intervening 28 years. Since 1972, we have given investors the ammo they needed to meet the markets' challenges--from the oil shocks and stagflation of the 1970s to the Reagan-era tax cuts and takeovers of the 1980s. Following the stock market crash of 1987, BUSINESS WEEK argued that the long-term case for stocks remained strong. From "Investing in the New Economy" (1996) to "The Global Slowdown: What It Means to You" (1997), the investment outlook issue continues to be forward-looking. A year ago, in the midst of the dot-com boom, we made the case that the real story of Internet investing would be how traditional companies would use technology and the Web to increase their efficiency and transform their businesses. This year, we focus on "Winning Strategies for a Tougher Market."