Price of Abbott Labs stock. The yearly closing prices of Abbott Laboratories stock are shown in the table below.

a. Use exponential smoothing with w = .8 to forecast the 2020 and 2021 closing prices. If you buy at the end of 2019 and sell at the end of 2021, what is your expected gain (loss)?

b. Repeat part a using Holt’s method with w = .8 and v = .5.

c. In which forecast do you have more confidence? Explain. Year Closing Price Year Closing Price 1995 41.05 2008 53.37 1996 50.75 2009 53.99 1997 65.50 2010 47.91 1998 49.00 2011 56.23 1999 36.31 2012 65.50 2000 48.44 2013 38.33 2001 55.75 2014 45.02 2002 40.00 2015 44.91 2003 46.60 2016 38.41 2004