Does anyone know how to do a test to statistically determine the value of something as a predictor? For example, if I wanted to determine if the Fed Funds Rate is a predictor of future price moves of the S&P 500.
Data mining is your answer but be careful - someone examined a huge 'universe' of data and found the best predictor of likely SP500 movements was the auction value of mongolian lamb !!
Do a yahoo search for 'Wiz Why' and you should find the program of that name - the full version costs around US3k I think, but you can download and use the trial version (no time limit!) which is limited to analyzing 1000 records tho....
I had never heard of Wizwhy, but I took your advice and checked it out. I did not even realise that such a program existed. What an incredible program. I can't thank you enough for your great suggestion. Thanks for stopping by and helping me out.