ADVERTISEMENT

Odd Lots: How to Use Pop Music to Forecast the Stock Market

Odd Lots: How to Use Pop Music to Forecast the Stock Market

Odd Lots: How to Use Pop Music to Forecast the Stock Market

Every week, hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway take you on a not-so-random walk through hot topics in markets, finance and economics.

When most people analyze the stock market, they look at stuff like revenues, earnings, valuations and economic conditions. But some people like to look at the Billboard music charts or what kinds of films are popular at any given moment.

On this week's Odd Lots, we talk to Matt Lampert, director of research at the Socionomics Institute, which attempts to analyze the market by looking at the nation's social mood. And there's no better way to examine society's mood than by looking at pop culture. Are horror movies in vogue? Are people listening to upbeat pop songs? Each of these things, according to Lampert, can offer a clue about the state of the nation and therefore which way the market will go next.

 

To contact the authors of this story: Joe Weisenthal in New York at jweisenthal@bloomberg.net, Tracy Alloway in Abu Dhabi at talloway@bloomberg.net.