Method and system for method of forecasting economic trends using transactional data

A computer-implemented method and a computer system for forecasting trends are disclosed. The system comprises a processor and a tangible computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to perform the method for forecasting trends. Transactional data comprising a date and an identity variable selected from the group consisting of: an entity, an economic sector, and combinations thereof is received by the computer system. The transactional data has been quantified according to a financial variable selected from the group consisting of: volume of transactions, the monetary amount of the transactions, and combinations thereof. The method comprises using a comparison engine configured to process at least a subset of the transactional data by comparing the financial variable of the transactional data and the transactional data's date against an index score of an index on a date to determine the correlation of at least a portion of transactions represented by the transactional data with the index score; using a selection engine configured to select a portion of transactions that are more correlated to the index than a second portion; and using a forecast engine configured to utilize the selected transactions to forecast an index score of the index for a date.