One chart that shows how Wolf of Wall Street might be the strongest bear signal yet
No, it's not because it's a bad film.
It's because of this chart from Howard Linzon, or rather, the relationship between public interest in investing and market levels that it hints at.
Markets seem to peak around the time that finance flicks are released. Maybe the release of Wolf of Wall Street means that we've reached such a peak now.
But there could be a simple explanation for the relationship, and it's not necessarily cause for alarm.
As markets rise, hitting new highs, we tend to be exposed to more news about the success of stocks. With that comes an appetite for stories about what can often seem an opaque world.
While the films above aren't great at explaining financial markets (some don't even make a proper attempt to do so), they do like to play up to public ideas of what goes on behind closed doors.
As cinemagoers and the public at large sometimes people get caught up in the drama, this often echoes the irrational exuberance that appears in the marketplace. A swift and sudden correction to equities often follows.
But it's not always the case – the chart doesn't feature the 1983 film Trading Places, which certainly isn't released at any kind of market high.
But that there aren't many features on this chart is probably an insight to its most important lesson of all – there really aren't many good films about finance.