SOOTHSAYERS.(comparison of forecasted and actual prime rate, local unemployment, unleaded gasoline and barrel of crude oil prices, and Dow Jones Industrial Average)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

How our economic prognosticators fared

A year ago, the Business Times asked seven prominent Pittsburghers to play the role of business soothsayer and make some basic economic predictions.

In a year in which the economy grew increasingly turbulent, it proved to be no easy task to predict such economic barometers as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the local unemployment rate, the prime interest rate, and the cost of a barrel of crude oil and a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.

Comparing their forecasts with the current reality as 2001 begins, the most conspicuous note you'll find in the predictions below is that our soothsayers weren't …