Finance Students From Around the World Predict Slow Changes in Social Security, Drop In Oil Prices By the End of the Year.

(From AScribe)

Dayton, Ohio., Apr. 1 (AScribe Newswire) -- Finance students attending the largest student investment strategy symposium in the world say President Bush will be able to reform Social Security by the end of his term, but not by the end of the year.

Nearly 1,000 participants from 132 colleges and universities from six countries are attending the RISE (Redefining Investment Strategy Education) symposium at the University of Dayton this week. Only 9 percent of respondents believe Bush can reform Social Security by the end of the year, while 55 percent say the system will be overhauled by the end of his term.

Students also predict the price of a barrel of oil to be $52.22 on December 31, 2005. While that's a few dollars short of the current $55 a barrel price tag, it opposes traders' forecasts like that of Goldman Sachs, which released a report saying oil markets have entered a "super-spike period, which we now think can drive oil prices toward $105 a barrel."

"This survey is a bearish forecast for the Bush administration and the work that lies ahead in reforming social security," said Robert Froehlich, chair of the investor strategy committee at Deutsche Asset Management and vice chair of Scudder Investments, who moderates panel discussions at RISE. "And it's a bullish forecast for consumers, who are alive and well and spending."

Here are some of the other student predictions:

- Where will the Dow Jones Industrial Average close on December 31, 2005?