Chimp Beats Stockbrokers In Their Trade

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A newspaper gave five stock analysts and a chimpanzee the equivalent of $1,250 each to make as much money as they could on the stock market.

The chimp won.

After one month, the chimpanzee, Ola, saw the value of his stocks rise $190, the Stockholm newspaper Expressen reported this week.

The runner-up was Mats Jonnerhag, publisher of the newsletter Bourse Insight. His stocks rose $130 between Aug. 3 and last Friday.

While the stock experts carefully considered their portfolios, Ola the chimp made his choice by throwing darts at names of companies listed on the Stockholm stock exchange.

One of his darts happened to hit Forsheda, a small diversified company whose stock increased 44 percent over the month.

That figure compared with an average increase of 5 percent for all stocks listed on the Stockholm exchange.