<THE FOOLISH FOUR>

Foolish Four Report
by Robert Sheard

LEXINGTON, KY. (Jan. 23, 1998) -- We're off to a weak start for the Dow in 1998, but as you're sure to know by now, we Fools don't spend much time worrying about short-term returns. We watch along every day, of course, but the daily ups and downs of the market don't sway us from our routine long-term strategies.

Nevertheless, if you're the kind of fan who reads the box scores and the league standings every morning, I'm with ya, Fool! Once a week, I update a file in our Dow Statistics Center with year-to-date returns for all thirty Dow stocks and a handful of the regularly followed Dow Dividend variations. And after three weeks of returns, there's nothing terribly surprising to report.

AT&T <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: T)") end if %>, one of last year's featured Foolish Four stocks has been continuing its ascent. Through January 21, AT&T has out-performed all but Merck <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: MRK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: MRK)") end if %> so far. Merck is up 7.5% and AT&T follows closely with a 6.2% gain. Also a solid performer so far is one of 1998's Foolish Four, International Paper <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IP)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IP)") end if %>, up 5.4% and in third place at the moment.

The Dow overall is trailing its major-index peers so far this year, losing 1.4% while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have posted modest gains.

The biggest Dow disappointments so far have been J.P. Morgan <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: JPM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: JPM)") end if %> and Boeing <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BA)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BA)") end if %>, both of which have slipped better than 10% in the first three weeks of the year. Even with Morgan's fall, though, the High Yield Dow Approach stocks are holding up reasonably well. The High Yield 10 is only down 1% while the Foolish Four has dropped about half that amount. Both are faring better than the Dow overall.

If you're following along at home, there are two files you'll want to bookmark. The first is the weekly file for the 1998 Dow Returns. The second is our nightly update of the price, dividend, and yield information for all 30 stocks, which we call the Current Dow Order file. If you forget to bookmark them, you can find them in the Dow Statistics Center. Fool on!

[Want to be the first Fool on your block to get a copy of Robert Sheard's forthcoming book? Click here to pre-order your copy of The Unemotional Investor.]

TODAY'S NUMBERS
Stock  Change   Last 
 -------------------- 
 UK   +   9/16  41.56 
 IP   -  15/16  44.69 
 MO   +  11/16  42.69 
 EK   +  11/16  62.19 
 
            
                    Day   Month    Year 
         FOOL-4   +0.45%  -0.64%  -0.64% 
         DJIA     -0.39%  -2.62%  -2.62% 
         S&P 500  -0.57%  -1.32%  -1.32% 
         NASDAQ   -0.04%   0.36%   0.36% 
  
     Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change 
  
  12/31/97  289 Int'l Pape    43.13     44.69     3.62% 
  12/31/97  206 Eastman Ko    60.56     62.19     2.68% 
  12/31/97  291 Union Carb    42.94     41.56    -3.20% 
  12/31/97  276 Philip Mor    45.25     42.69    -5.66% 
  
  
     Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change 
  
  12/31/97  289 Int'l Pape 12463.13  12914.69   $451.56 
  12/31/97  206 Eastman Ko 12475.88  12810.63   $334.75 
  12/31/97  291 Union Carb 12494.81  12094.69  -$400.13 
  12/31/97  276 Philip Mor 12489.00  11781.75  -$707.25 
  
  
                              CASH     $77.19 
                             TOTAL  $49678.94