Hubdub’s Hot Predictions this week, as decided by Hubdub users and staff, are selected based on their newsworthiness for the week. These stories are bound to be big news this week - and we have forecasts on how they’re likely to turn out.

Business

The DJIA closed on Jan. 16th at 8281.22. Not a good sign for the incoming Obama administration. Although with the inauguration on Tuesday and “hope” on everyone’s minds will the DJIA bounce back up this week? Seems Hubdubbers have hope on their minds too, giving the DJIA closing up this week a 65% chance.

Will the DJIA close up this week?

Politics

Despite the inaugration of Barack Obama this week there are other politics stories out there! For example Barack Obama’s old steel-blue 2005 Chrysler 300C is up for auction on Ebay. For the next President’s old car you’d expect it to sell for something in the millions. In actuality Hubdub forecasts it goes for $300,000 or less. Celebrity isn’t what it used to be….

How much will Barack Obama’s old car sell for?

Sports

The NHL All-Star game is on January 25th in Montreal.  It will be played East vs. West, or simply Penguins & Canadians vs the Ducks & Blackhawks. For now the Easterners are edging out the west, but the odds have been switching up and down all week.

Who will win the NHL All-Star game?

Entertainment

We’ve had this market on the list on and off for the last two months, it keeps on showing up though because it’s just a great market. The movie had seemed a shoe in for Best Picture,  but as the Oscars arrive it’s chances are dwindling day by day. Currently being given a 49% chance.

Oscar Buzz: Will ‘Dark Knight’ be nominated for Best Picture?

Tech

Our wallets aren’t doing so well this year, but in the developing world the size of your wallets isn’t really that important. People are much more concerned with just getting some food on the table. This is where www.freerice.com comes in, just got to the site and answer questions to donate some rice. They’ve already collected over 57,000,000,000 grains of rice can they get to 62,000,000,000 grains by March?

Will FreeRice.com surpass 62,000,000,000 in grains of rice donated by March 1, 2009?

Trading percentages given are at time of posting and may not match up with markets after the fact due to Hubdub users forecasting on said markets.

Hubdub Top 5 all-star game, auction, barack obama, car, Chrysler 300c, djia, dow jones industrial average, ebay, entertainment, free rice, Heath Ledger, markets, national hockey league, politics, rice, The Dark Knight

Nominees for the Oscars are going to be announced on January 22nd, but the speculation has already been simmering for quite awhile now. Much of the speculation has surrounded Heath Ledger and possible nomination as a last hurrah for his brilliant but short lived career.

At Hubdub we’re forecasting Ledger will win an Oscar for his role as the Joker. At time of writing he stands a 65% chance of winning an Oscar. The Dark Knight has a 59% chance of being nominated for Best Picture at time of writing as well.

Will Heath Ledger win an Oscar in 2009 for his role as the Joker in Dark Knight?

Oscar Buzz: Will ‘Dark Knight’ be nominated for Best Picture?

Usually commercial successes at the box office don’t make waves at the Oscars. I myself doubt Ledger will win an Oscar. Although his acting was superb, it’s extremely rare for dead actors to receive awards and I can’t stop thinking that our Hubdub forecast may be users predicting with their hearts instead of their brains. I’ve put H$300 on Ledger not getting a Oscar, anyone with me?

More typical Oscar movies such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk and Slumdog Millionaire are poised to be nominated for Best Picture, with all three being given an above 80% chance of being nominated by Hubdubbers.

Stay tuned for a more in depth blog post from our resident entertainment category editor at Hubdub, Jenni, in the next week.

Uncategorized Academy Awards, Best Picture, forecast, Heath Ledger, Milk, oscar nominations, Oscars, predictions, Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight