Patent ID: 6907403

Claim:
A method for classifying assets into business sectors, said method comprising: (a) utilizing a computer to execute computer-executable process steps that include steps to: (i) calculate, for each of plural exogenous variables, a measure of a tendency for a value of an asset to change as a result of a change in a data value for said each exogenous variable; (ii) repeat step (i) for each of plural different assets; and (iii) group said plural different assets into plural different sectors based on similarities of said measures of tendency to change across said plural exogenous variables; (b) assessing at least one of: (I) how statistics for at least one of the groups formed in step (iii) vary over time; and (II) how one asset in a group formed in step (iii) compares to other assets in the same group; and (c) purchasing or selling an asset based on the assessment made in step (b).