Ex ante (expected) average equity market correlation is linked to the differential correlation dynamics of growth and value firms, as well as the value premium. It predicts the value premium, returns of growth and value firms, and the level of growth options within an economy for horizons up to one year. A production-based asset-pricing model supports the existence of a homogeneous correlation among stocks with similar growth characteristics, depending on the prevailing idiosyncratic firm variance, increasing in the value of growth options and, hence, is connected to the value premium.