Economic indicators predicting stock market?

Discussion in 'Economics' started by DVB, Mar 2, 2004.

  1. DVB

    DVB

    Thank you all for your suggestions...

    I am not trying to time the market using the fundamentals. I am sure that there are people who can do that, and we can find them on Forbes list. I am not there :( yet :D

    What I am trying to do is to develop a system that will give me the probabilities of the market direction for the next quarter, 6 months or a year based on economic indicators. I will still use my 100% mechanical system to trade, but the position sizes will vary not only based on short-term volatility, but also on a set of probabilities given by the economic indicators. If the short-term system gives me a buy signal, but the long term one (developed on econ indicators, market interrelationships, etc) favors short side, I will still go long, but on a smaller scale.

    May be the idea is absurd...

    BTW, M3 idea sounds interesting, what is the rationale though?

    DVB
     
    #11     Mar 3, 2004
  2. its not absurd its just hard to do since the market looks ahead 6 months to a year.
    if you want to look at something look at the yield curve. whenever you get a flat or inverted yield curve its been bad for the market. a steep yield curve is a favorable enviroment.
    as far as fundamental guys on the forbes list. other than buffet most of those guys are insiders of a public company not traders or investors. not the same.
     
    #12     Mar 3, 2004
  3. DVB,

    do a search on my name, and you can pull up my forecasts of earnings, EPS and P/E ratios, charts included. . of the future for the next 13 weeks on average.

    i think that is what you are trying to accomplish. .

    sg
     
    #13     Mar 3, 2004
  4. DVB,

    I agree with what you are trying to do; I do the same thing in the forex markets.

    In the current issue of Futures there is an article discussing the futility of using economic indicators for trading; I havn't read it but I scanned it and it seems to be talking about using them for timing, which I think is a losing proposition. I think using it as a general road map is beneficial to trading when combined with a good mechanical approach.

    Try finding a copy of Jack Schwager's "Schwager on Futures: Fundamental Analysis." There is a section on stock market models and is an excellent book overall.

    Among his suggestions are earnings growth, P/E, M2, bond prices, and setiment indicators (try Market Vane or the other two reported in Baron's).

    www.stlousfed.org is a great place to find US econ data.

    Good luck
     
    #14     Mar 3, 2004
  5. DVB

    DVB

    I read the article yesterday. The irritating thing is that the author did not provide any calculations, any statistics ... without numbers and testing it is just a story-telling. How can one make any conclusions by just looking at two charts?

    SG: Thank you for your comments, I will definitely go over your previous posts. You've mentioned that you found correlations b/n weekly earnings & SP500...interesting

    Hanseng: thanks for the books recommendation

    Regards,

    DVB
     
    #15     Mar 4, 2004
  6. I would be very interested if anyone could use the following model to correctly forecast the stock market using fundamental inputs.

    P = D(1+s)/(1+r) + D(1+s)2/(1+r)2 + ... + D(1+s)T/(1+r)T + E(1+g)TZ/(1+r)T

    Click below for an interactive calculator:
    http://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/stockm/computep.htm
     
    #16     Mar 10, 2004
  7. #17     Mar 10, 2004
  8. aradiel

    aradiel

    Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation
    by Edward Chancellor
     
    #18     Mar 10, 2004