Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hindenburg Omen Tripped. Does this mean Stock Market Crash?

This is my first taste of the Hindenburg Omen. According to the article below, it's a technical indicator which foreshadows a stock market crash. Whether it works in actual fact, I think I'm very tempted to be out of the market for the moment.


  . . . June

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Yes Folks, Hindenburg Omen Tripped Again - MarketBeat - WSJ
"By Steven Russolillo

The Hindenburg Omen reared its ugly head late last week, signaling more doom and gloom as stocks plod along amid the dog days of summer.

The Omen, a technical indicator which uses a plethora of data to foreshadow a stock-market crash, was tripped again on Friday, marking the second time since Aug. 12 it has occurred. (It also came close on Thursday, but one of its criteria fell short.)"

The latest trigger has prompted the Omen’s creator, Jim Miekka, to exit the market. “I’m taking it seriously and I’m fully out of the market now,” Miekka, a blind mathematician, said in a telephone interview from his home in Surry, Maine. “I would’ve probably stayed in until the beginning of September,” depending on how the indicators varied. “That was my basic plan, until the Hindenburg came along.”

The Omen has been behind every market crash since 1987, but significant stock-market declines have followed only 25% of the time. So there’s a high likelihood that the Omen could be nothing more than a false signal.

But that isn’t stopping Miekka from taking any chances, especially as September, typically the market’s worst-performing month, sits only one week away.

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