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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: You only have to follow the markets for a few weeks to know exchanges can work in some pretty strange ways. A group of researchers says you might be able to predict some trading action based on the wind. Janet Babin has more from the Marketplace Innovations Desk at North Carolina Public Radio.

JANET BABIN: It seems that wind and clouds can dampen business for futures traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

That according to a study from three finance professors. They gathered data from the transaction records of more than 300 active traders over four years.

Dr. Peter Locke at Texas Christian University was one of the researchers. He says he was surprised by the results.

DR. PETER LOCKE: In fact, there was evidence that on windier days they make less money in the afternoon.

Locke isn’t sure why the weather had such an effect, but he points to other studies that show wind creates ions that can make people depressed.

If a trader’s mood causes him to lose concentration, the result, he says, could be a poor trading day.

I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.