Groundhog as Economic Predictor?

Americans are familiar with the tradition of Groundhog Day. Each year on February 2, a groundhog in Punxsutawney, PA, known as Punxsutawney Phil comes up from his hole and, if he sees his shadow, another six weeks of winter is predicted.

But did you know that Phil can also predict where the economy is headed? It turns out, the rodent’s predictions correlate with how the Dow finished each year. For the last 10 times he did not see his shadow, the Dow ended up nine times out of 10.

Unfortunately, he did see his shadow today – meaning six more weeks of winter, and potentially no short term end to our economic woes.