INTRODUCTION

Forget about Cruise Control: From here on, the investment terrain looks a whole lot bumpier

THE FRAMEWORK

The Business Outlook: And for the economy's next act...

The BW Economic Forecast Survey: Numbers for 1998 as seen by 50 top economists
The Top Guru: Allen Sinai, 1997's top prognosticator

The Washington Outlook: The partisan battles are on their way back
Table: Key issues in 1998

Asset Allocation: How the experts would divvy up your portfolio
Chart: Allocating your assets in a difficult year
Table: Fours ways to play the next year
Table: Mark Keller's stock picks

STRATEGIES FOR STOCKS

Stocks: How to ride an aging bull: Carefully
Chart: The S&P, Dow, mid-caps, and small caps
H. Bradlee Perry: "I'm concerned that earnings will disappoint"

Fearless Forecasts: Is this the year the gurus get it right?
BW Market Forecast Survey for 1998: Forty-five pros look into their crystal balls
Top Gurus: Bull and superbull: Still optimistic, but...

BW/Harris Poll: Still putting their marbles on the market
Commentary: Are these bulls farsighted--or wearing blinders?

Financial Services: Bank shots will be trickier
Table: Savvy picks in a chancy sector

Technology: Don't hightail it out of high tech
Table: Tech stocks to consider
Paul Wick: "Use...euphoria as an opportunity to sell"

Asia: A daredevil's guide to Asian markets
Table: Where the trouble lies

Europe: The craze that's sweeping the Continent: Mergers
Table: Big issues for Euro-Investors

Russia: Pop goes the hot-air balloon
Table: What the pros are watching in Moscow

Latin America: An emerging roller-coaster ride
Table: The lowdown on the big markets

The Global Forecasters: Bearish? Not our pros
BW's 1998 International Market Forecast: Fourteen globalists look ahead

Options: Weighing your options in options
Table: How a put spread works
Table: Some option plays

Shorts: How to soar with falling stocks
Table: Stocks that shorts see heading down

The Pros: The $100,000 Question: What Stocks Would the Pros Buy?
Table: David Herro's portfolio
Table: Christine Baxter's portfolio
Table: David Tice's portfolio
Table: Brian Posner's portfolio

Inside Wall Street:
'Steady, mom-and-apple-pie stocks'
Tech stocks to hang on to
A Markdown on Syms?
Summit: Ripe for an assault
Eyeing a global drug connection

THE INVESTMENT SPECTRUM

Mutual Funds: A round of applause, but no rave reviews
Table: The best returns
Table: The worst returns
Table: How the big funds fared
Table: The bond fund leaders
Table: All in all, a good year for many fund groups

Bonds: Betting on a solid year
Chart: Falling Fast
Maria Ramirez: "I look for countries with no huge debt problems"

Real Estate: REITs come of age
Table: Hot properties
Martin Cohen: "We will revert to predictable returns in the high teens"

Commodities: A bushel basket of woes
Chart: El Nino may lift soybeans, but Asia is pummeling copper

Art: Forget Picasso. Try Oursler, Goldin, Gursky, and Messager

THE INVESTMENT SCOREBOARD

U.S. Earnings Outlook: Keeping score is getting trickier
Table: Industry group winners and losers
Table: A menu of investment opportunities

1998 Investment Outlook Scoreboard: Complete 1997 results for 900 companies -- and predictions for the coming year (in Adobe's Acrobat .pdf format)