Stock Market Prediction Challenge

A challenge is available to W. Frank Barton School of Business Students at Wichita State University to make the most accurate prediction of what the closing value of the S&P 500 will be on Friday, August 30, 2019. The deadline for student submissions is March 1, 2019. 

This challenge was also issued to business professionals for the same closing date. Deadlie for professions submissions is also March 1, 2019. 

The Award

• Complimentary ticket to the 2019 , 40th Annual Kansas Economic Outlook Conference in October 2019.
• Recognition - Award presented on stage at the event and on the CEDBR website
• Major Networking Opportunity - As an attendee at the event, you will have access over 800 state and local business leaders

Click Here to Enter the Contest

Between the second and third quarter of 2018, the general level of misery experienced by people in the United States and Kansas increased, but remained below the 2017 level. This can be attributed to increases in unemployment and decreases in housing prices.

Among the metropolitan areas in the state, Wichita and Topeka both have levels of misery above the state level. All areas in Kansas are below the national level

The Misery Index, as calculated by the Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR), includes the following components:

• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
• The House Price Index (HPI) from the Federal Housing Finance Agency
• Unemployment Rates (UR) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Read the complete report.

The employment-population ratio is a measure of labor market strength; it is calculated by dividing the number of employed workers in an area by the total civilian non-institutionalized population aged 16 and over in that region. This is often used alongside the unemployment rate in determining the strength of the labor market.

• In 2017, the employment-population ratio in Kansas increased by 0.3 percentage points; the ratio reached its nadir in 2014 after declining 4.5 percentage points from its peak in 2008.  The Kansas LFP rate followed similar trends, also declining 4.5 percentage points from 2008 to 2014 and then increasing 0.5 percentage points from 2014 to 2017.

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Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research has developed indices to measure the general current economic conditions in each of Kansas’ sixteen micropolitan statistical areas. Each index is designed to provide a broad perspective on the local economy for each of these micropolitan areas throughout the state.
The indices are based on local employment, unemployment rates, inflation-adjusted retail sales, and manufacturing wages, while also taking into account statewide performance in the oil and farm sectors in the areas where those sectors are relevant to the local economy. Generally, increasing values for a micropolitan area’s index indicate improving economic conditions.

In the second quarter of 2018, the economic performance of Kansas’ micropolitan areas was mixed, with seven areas’ indices increasing compared to the previous quarter, while nine decreased. On average, the micropolitan indices declined by 0.5 index points compared to the previous quarter and declined less than 0.1 index points as compared to one year prior

Read a Full Analysis.