The Music of the Market

Lately, I have been noticing that many economists, analysts and strategists have been having some sly fun by naming their research after songs.

My own contributions to the space have been the past two commentaries: Bad Moon Arising, and Been Down So Long (It looks like up to me).

But I also noticed that John Roque’s past two comment’s were titled BRIC House, and R-E-S-P-E-C-T. AndMorgan Stanley asked: Will the Real Slim Saving Rate Please Stand Up?

Most of these players came of age during the Golden Age of Rock-N-Roll (Disco era aside) in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I’m bettting that most of this crew (present company included) are in their 30s or 40s.

But the relationship between markets and music goes both ways — not
only do analysts name their market reports after songs, but some
musicians are using the market as an inspiration  for their  music: Emerald Suspension’s Playing the Market is Music based on stock-market activity.

Check out the names of their songs:

1. Fibonocci’s Random Walk (part 1)
2. Long Bond
3. Irrational Exuberance / Great Depression
4. Bulls and Bears of the World
5. Industrial Century
6. Fibonacci’s Random Walk (part 2)
7. The Misery Index
8. National Debt
9. Stock Options
10. Fibonacci’s Random Walk (part 3)
11. IPO

Here’s the "liner notes" from their website:

The
stock market has long driven investors into a mild form of
schizophrenia, in which they’re obsessed with uncovering the mystical
patterns that supposedly underpin the chaos. UI architects develop
massive displays to visualize market activity, in hopes of spying
hidden rulesets; fresh-outta-college 20somethings hunch over
12-foot-square Excel spreadsheets, attempting to predict lucrative
spread inflection-points.

Now a group of artists have made music out of it. Emerald Suspension
is a musical unit that — as it proclaims on its web site — records
music "based on patterns created by the stock market, economic
indicators, algorithms, and other data sources." Their album Playing
the Market includes songs derived from the Consumer Confidence Index,
the efficient market hypothesis, and measures of the national debt.

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What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. Mark commented on Mar 22

    Barry-

    All that is fine and dandy. I appreciate the fact that you are well-rounded, gentile, yadda, yadda. But it has been nearly 24 hours since you gave us that call on the Naz. WHERE IS TODAY’S CALL DAMMIT? :)

  2. David Silb commented on Mar 22

    I think that songs and the stock market have been around a long time. Even Gilbert and Sullivan in their Opera Utopia Limited or The Flowers of Progress penned the most improbable choruses set to music:

    “All hail, astonishing Fact!/ All hail, Invention new/ The Joint Stock Company Act/ The Act of Sixty-Two!” (1862 to be exact)

    So I guess people have been thinking about music and markets for a long time.

  3. Mark commented on Mar 22

    WHOOPS! Well THAT was certainly a fingerfehler. Read: genteel. (I need to get more sleep.)

  4. Paul Vigna commented on Mar 22

    I thought you were being literary with the Down So Long reference.

  5. fred c. dobbs commented on Mar 22

    We’ll know a commentator is truly ancient when he/she references “Eddie Cantor’s Tips on the Stock Market.”

  6. 23 commented on Mar 22

    In a weird coincidence, the white sox and perma-bulls share a theme song: Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing

    ..hold on to that feeeeeling…!

  7. nate commented on Mar 22

    Beautiful Day

  8. Mark commented on Mar 22

    Or it could just be that I am illiterate. Occam’s Razor likely applies here.

  9. todd commented on Mar 22

    Here are some currents in rotation…

    T-Pain — “I’m in Luv (with the Ticker)”
    Nick Lachey — “What’s Left of GE”

  10. todd commented on Mar 22

    AND for the modern rock peeps…

    Panic! At The Disco — “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Good Short Coverage”

    Arctic Monkeys — “I Bet You Look Good On The Trading-floor”

    People In Planes — “If You Trade Too Much (My Head Will Explode)”

  11. todd commented on Mar 22

    WOW! The country chart has a bunch of great songs! These are the actual titles:

    Dierks Bentley — “Settle For A Slowdown”
    LeAnn Rimes — “Something’s Gotta Give”
    Jamey Johnson — “The Dollar”
    Jo Dee Messina — “Not Going Down”

    …alright, enough fun for one night!

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