What will happen in 2010? The answer may be in the music...

[Dien Rice]

Is it possible to predict what the year ahead will hold for us, in terms of the economy?

According to one researcher, there is a way to know! And all you have to do is listen to the top hits on the radio!

Although this "news" came out about a year ago, it's still useful for what the year ahead will do...

Dr. Philip Maymin, a researcher at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, has researched a connection between trends in the S&P 500 and the top 100 selling songs of the year.

He found that if the music on average has very consistent beats (that is, the beat during the song changes very little, like a lot of dance music), then that means that there will be a lot of market volatility - that is, we're in for a stock market roller coaster ride.

However, if on average the most popular songs have highly varying beats (that is, the beat varies a lot during the song - it might slow down, then speed up for instance), then it means smooth sailing as far as the stock market is concerned.

What's going to happen this year?

I'm not sure... I'm going to have to listen to more popular music!

However, one man thinks that the "Black Eyed Peas" hit song "I Gotta Feeling" is a sign of good things to come!

You can read the article here...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blog...nting-the-beat

Well... I hope he's right!

Best wishes,

Dien