Fun with Mom and can the markets read the presidential future

My mom spent the weekend with us here in Chicago and we all had a really good time. We went to a few restaurants, museums, bars, and shops. Overall, the weekend was pretty full of activities and so there really wasn't much time to relax. That said, I think she had a good time and I'm looking forward to seeing her at the end of April. I would share some pictures, but as usual we forgot our camera. It seems to be a recurring theme...

On another topic, I came across an article on slate.com that I thought was pretty interesting regarding a market for "political futures." The basic premise of this market is to bet on whom you think will win the Democratic primary, Republican primary, Presidency, etc.

The graph on the left shows the currentchart from Slate.com which includes 3 different markets (Intrade, IEM, and News Future) and is saying that people are currently willing to spend $53 to buy a contract with Intrade that will pay $100 if Hillary, and only Hillary, wins the nomination. If Hillary does not win, it pays $0. As for Barack, traders are willing to spend $28.50 for the same contract. According to the IEM chart, Hillary and Barack are much closer and running around $40.80 and $40.50, respectively. So, in plain-speak, the traders are more confident that Hillary will win the Democratic nomination, but on IEM, it isn't by much. News Futures does not accept money and is only for "fun" while the other two listed do accept bet of real money.

I'll keep watching the Slate.com chart, since it already includes the IEM information and will post it here regularly. I'll also post tomorrow with information about the GOP nomination and the general election charts.