Google Finance Launches Economic Indicator Prediction Tool

Earlier today, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) released a new tool on their Google Finance platform called Google Domestic Trends. The idea behind the platform is to use a bucket of queries to serve as a proxy for various economic indicators such as unemployment, air travel, credit & lending, etc.

It's reassuring to see that Google is moving toward this direction in moving toward sharing their data beyond its value to advertisers and the CDC to include your average, everyday investor.

It was also very interesting to see a (relatively) main stream take on the concept of using search data for investment recommendations in today's Tech Crunch. There is still a long way to go with using internet data strategies for retail investors; we are still just at the beginning of a new era.

Disclaimer: Author owns shares in GOOG.

Jobless Claims Prediction Hits the Mark

Earlier this week, following a Google Insights for Search snafu, Markets with Search predicted that jobless claims would come in flat for the week (in line with consensus). The numbers released today validated the claim. Chalk one up to another win for using search to "predict the present."

Looking further into the issue which resulted in the errant prediction earlier, it is to my understanding that Insights for Search data may take up to 2 days to finalize following the end of a periodic week. The initial prediction was made on data that has not been fully normalized. While this is not ideal, it still enables you to be ahead of data that is delayed by 5 days.

Console Wars: How PS3 Price Cut is Impacting Unit Sales

Two weeks ago, Sony (NYSE:SNE (ADR)) announced that they were cutting the price of their Playstation 3 console by $100 to a price of $299. It has been no secret that PS3 has been the laggard of the next generation consoles (Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360), but investors will want to know whether this price cut will stimulate growth of Sony's effort.

Initial indications in the search space is that the price cut has in fact driven consumers to express interest in purchase of the PS3 console. Looking through call-to-action "buy" keywords, with a filter to remove searches for consumers seeking to buy "points" on these consoles, it appears that searches for interest in purchasing the Playstation console.

It does not appear that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has had as much luck with their reaction to cut the price of their most expensive console, announced a week after Sony. Searches for Xbox purchases remained flat through last week.

These are still initial results and there is much left to be seen of where sales will sit once the dust settles, but the first response appears that Sony is winning this battle.

Disclaimer: Author owns shares in MSFT.