TAKE HEART CHICAGO

Patriots’ Super Bowl stumble could bode well for stocks/housing

The Super Bowl casts a magical spell over much of America. More than 40 per cent of us were glued to the telecast of the latest re-enactment of this annual fisticuffs of all football fisticuffs. Viewers included die-hard fans and once-a-year, join-the-party interlopers. The game elicited screams from the normally passive. Hugs by strangers who suddenly became new best friends. Tears from grizzled men groping to cope with the demise of their Sunday heroes.

Now another Super Bowl phenomenon comes to light. In years when an NFC team wins (as did the Giants this year), the economy goes on to enjoy much rosier days than in years when the AFC prevails.

This the finding of Avram Goldberg, of Inman News, who took a look at data dating back to 1967. Details of Goldberg's study:

1) In NFC win years, the S&P 500 delivered a positive performance 86% of the time versus 63% when the AFC won.

2) The S&P 500 grew an average 16.4% in years when the NFC won, compared to 7.1% when the AFC dominated.

Goldberg points to an uncanny direct correlation between how equities and real estate perform. For the past 11 years, for instance, when one was up so was other and vice versa.

He uncovered another interesting nugget in his analysis. In the other two years when the Giants were champs(1987,1991), the economy faced challenges similar to those confronting us in 2008. And the economy in both years ended up on a winning note. Nice, realistic stuff. And all thanks to the Patriots for allowing history another chance to occupy its customary role.