Pursuits

This Japanese Robot Calls the Market Better Than a Human

  • Model has been right 68 percent of time over almost four years
  • Former BOJ official holds a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence

A reflection of a setting sun on a building is seen in front of a glass of an electronic monitor displaying the closing price of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average outside a securities firm in Tokyo.

Photographer: Yuriko Nakao
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On the 10th day of every month, Junsuke Senoguchi has just one thing on his mind -- the closing level of the Nikkei 225 Stock Average.

That’s because Senoguchi, an unassuming man in his late 40s, has built a machine that’s been predicting the direction of Japanese shares, and once a month he gets a progress report on its success. The model makes a simple call -- whether the equity index will be higher or lower after 30 days -- and over almost four years it’s been right 68 percent of the time.