The Hindenburg Omen Has Arrived

[MNeagle]

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 08/12/2010 21:35 -0500

Dick FuldMarket CrashMcClellan OscillatorNew York Stock ExchangeTechnical Analysis


Easily the most feared technical pattern in all of chartism (for the bullishly inclined) is the dreaded Hindenburg Omen. Those who know what it is, tend to have an atavistic reaction to its mere mention. Those who do not, can catch up on its implications courtesy of Wikipedia, but in a nutshell: "The Hindenburg Omen is a technical analysis that attempts to predict a forthcoming stock market crash. It is named after the Hindenburg disaster of May 6th 1937, during which the German zeppelin was destroyed in a sudden conflagration." Granted, the Hindenburg Omen is not a guarantee of a crash, and the five criteria that must be met for a Hindenburg trigger typically need to reoccur within 36 days for reconfirmation. Yet the statistics are startling: "Looking back at historical data, the probability of a move greater than 5% to the downside after a confirmed Hindenburg Omen was 77%, and usually takes place within the next forty-days." The last Hindenburg Omen occurred during the lows of 2009. Today, we just had another (unconfirmed) Hindenburg Omen. It is time to batten down the hatches - something big is coming.

As a reminder, the 5 criteria of the Omen are as follows:

1.That the daily number of NYSE new 52 Week Highs and the daily number of new 52 Week Lows must both be greater than 2.2 percent of total NYSE issues traded that day.

2.That the smaller of these numbers is greater than or equal to 69 (68.772 is 2.2% of 3126). This is not a rule but more like a checksum. This condition is a function of the 2.2% of the total issues.

3.That the NYSE 10 Week moving average is rising.

4.That the McClellan Oscillator is negative on that same day.

5.That new 52 Week Highs cannot be more than twice the new 52 Week Lows (however it is fine for new 52 Week Lows to be more than double new 52 Week Highs). This condition is absolutely mandatory.

Today, all five conditions were satisfied. June 2008 was another such reconfirmed event, and as Barron's pointed out then, "there's a 25% probability of a full-blown stock-market crash in the next 120 days. Caveat emptor." Boy was the emptor caveating within 120 days (especially if said emptor was named Dick Fuld). Which brings us to the present: should the Omen be reconfirmed within 36 days, all bets are off.

link (http://www.zerohedge.com/article/hindenburg-omen-here?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedg e+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+fo r+everyone+drops+to+zero%29)

[joe_momma]

Thanks MNEagle -

Read this last night - not sure if it is a true predictor (though the HO track record is better than the goat entrails I normal rely upon.)

I'm was already twitchy since September is fast approaching (historically Sept is the cruelest month to the stock market) -

[MNeagle]

And then there's this in today's WSJ:

Is a Crash Coming? Ten Reasons to Be Cautious

Could Wall Street be about to crash again?

This week's bone-rattlers may be making you wonder.

I don't make predictions. That's a sucker's game. And I'm certainly not doing so now.

But way too many people are way too complacent this summer. Here are 10 reasons to watch out.


1. The market is already expensive. Stocks are about 20 times cyclically-adjusted earnings, according to data compiled by Yale University economics professor Robert Shiller. That's well above average, which, historically, has been about 16. This ratio has been a powerful predictor of long-term returns. Valuation is by far the most important issue for investors. If you're getting paid well to take risks, they may make sense. But what if you're not?

2. The Fed is getting nervous. This week it warned that the economy had weakened, and it unveiled its latest weapon in the war against deflation: using the proceeds from the sale of mortgages to buy Treasury bonds. That should drive down long-term interest rates. Great news for mortgage borrowers. But hardly something one wants to hear when the Dow Jones Industrial Average is already north of 10000.

3. Too many people are too bullish. Active money managers are expecting the market to go higher, according to the latest survey by the National Association of Active Investment Managers. So are financial advisers, reports the weekly survey by Investors Intelligence. And that's reason to be cautious. The time to buy is when everyone else is gloomy. The reverse may also be true.

4. Deflation is already here. Consumer prices have fallen for three months in a row. And, most ominously, it's affecting wages too. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that, last quarter, workers earned 0.7% less in real terms per hour than they did a year ago. No wonder the Fed is worried. In deflation, wages, company revenues, and the value of your home and your investments may shrink in dollar terms. But your debts stay the same size. That makes deflation a vicious trap, especially if people owe way too much money.

5. People still owe way too much money. Households, corporations, states, local governments and, of course, Uncle Sam. It's the debt, stupid. According to the Federal Reserve, total U.S. debt—even excluding the financial sector—is basically twice what it was 10 years ago: $35 trillion compared to $18 trillion. Households have barely made a dent in their debt burden; it's fallen a mere 3% from last year's all-time peak, leaving it twice the level of a decade ago.

6. The jobs picture is much worse than they're telling you. Forget the "official" unemployment rate of 9.5%. Alternative measures? Try this: Just 61% of the adult population, age 20 or over, has any kind of job right now. That's the lowest since the early 1980s—when many women stayed at home through choice, driving the numbers down. Among men today, it's 66.9%. Back in the '50s, incidentally, that figure was around 85%, though allowances should be made for the higher number of elderly people alive today. And many of those still working right now can only find part-time work, so just 59% of men age 20 or over currently have a full-time job. This is bullish?

(Today's bonus question: If a laid-off contractor with two kids, a mortgage and a car loan is working three night shifts a week at his local gas station, how many iPads can he buy for Christmas?)

7. Housing remains a disaster. Foreclosures rose again last month. Banks took over another 93,000 homes in July, says foreclosure specialist RealtyTrac. That's a rise of 9% from June and just shy of May's record. We're heading for 1 million foreclosures this year, RealtyTrac says. And naturally the ripple effects hurt all those homeowners not in foreclosure, by driving down prices. See deflation (No. 4) above.

8. Labor Day is approaching. Ouch. It always seems to be in September-October when the wheels come off Wall Street. Think 2008. Think 1987. Think 1929. Statistically, there actually is a "September effect." The market, on average, has done worse in that month than any other. No one really knows why. Some have even blamed the psychological effect of shortening days. But it becomes self-reinforcing: People fear it, so they sell.

9. We're looking at gridlock in Washington. Election season has already begun. And the Democrats are expected to lose seats in both houses in November. (Betting at InTrade, a bookmaker in Dublin, Ireland, gives the GOP a 62% chance of taking control of the House.) As our political dialogue seems to have collapsed beyond all possible hope of repair, let's not hope for any "bipartisan" agreements on anything of substance. Do you think this is a good thing? As Davis Rosenberg at investment firm Gluskin Sheff pointed out this week, gridlock is only a good thing for investors "when nothing needs fixing." Today, he notes, we need strong leadership. Not gonna happen.

10. All sorts of other indicators are flashing amber. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index, while still positive, weakened again in July. So did ISM's new-orders indicator. The trade deficit has widened, and second-quarter GDP growth was much lower than first thought. ECRI's Weekly Leading Index has been flashing warning lights for weeks. Europe's industrial production in June turned out considerably worse than expected. Even China's steamroller economy is slowing down. Tech bellwether Cisco Systems has signaled caution ahead. Individually, each of these might mean little. Collectively, they make me wonder. In this environment, I might be happy to buy shares if they were cheap. But not so much if they're expensive. See No. 1 above.

http://gold-silver.us/forum/general-discussion/the-hindenburg-omen-has-arrived/?action=post;num_replies=1

[Ponce]

I like to read what the PTB writes about the reasons for what is going to happen......because I don't know any thing about finances to be is all yara, yara, yara........to me is suffice to know (for sure) that is going to happen..........get ready.

[Steal]

I forsee many threads and videos coming this month stating how Gold and Silver do NOT have to follow the market down this time. Hmmm. Tuesday was not a good sign.

[Ponce]

To me the reason to hold the price of silver and gold down are two.......make make the dollar look strongher and for the power to be to keep on buying all that the can for what is to come

[MNeagle]

The Hindenburg Omen IS Scary, but So Are the Fundamentals

After tumbling below 10,000 yet again Wednesday morning, the Dow rebounded to close above that psychologically important level and was slightly higher early Thursday. Still, fear in the market is being expressed by the continued rally in Treasuries and widespread chatter about an ominous sounding technical indicator: The Hindenburg Omen.


The Hindenburg Omen has a roughly 25% accuracy rate in predicting big market upheaval since 1987, meaning it's far from infallible but isn't inconsequential either. The indicator's creator, mathematician Jim Miekka, compares the Hindenburg Omen to a funnel cloud that precedes a tornado in a recent interview with The WSJ. "It doesn't mean [the market's] going to crash, but it's a high probability," he said.

Complex and esoteric even in the world of technical indicators, the Hindenburg Omen is triggered when the following occurs, Zero Hedge reports:

-- The daily number of NYSE new 52-week highs and the daily number of new 52-week lows must both be greater than 2.2% of total NYSE issues traded that day.
-- The NYSE's 10-week moving average is rising.
-- The McClellan Oscillator (a technical measure of "overbought" vs. "oversold" conditions) is negative on that same day.
-- New 52-week highs cannot be more than twice the new 52-week lows. This condition is absolutely mandatory.
These criteria have been hit twice since Aug. 12, prompting Miekka to get out of the market entirely, The WSJ reports. Judging by the recent market action, many others are following suit -- or at least moving in the same direction.

Worry List Lengthens

As Henry and I discuss in the accompanying clip, there are a lot of reasons to be worried right now that having nothing to with The Hindenburg Omen, the "Death Cross", Mercury being in retrograde or myriad other indicators cited by market pundits of various stripes.

More fundamental reasons to be concerned include:

It's the Economy, Stupid: This week's weak durable goods and home sales reports are just the latest in a string of desultory data. In sum, the macroeconomic data strongly suggest the job market isn't going to improve anytime soon. And if the job market doesn't improve, there's really not much hope for a turnaround in housing, consumer sales or anything else really. Oh, and the stock market is still expensive on a cyclically adjusted P/E basis, making it more vulnerable to an economic slowdown.

Unusual Uncertainty: On July 21, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke testified on Capitol Hill that the Fed's forecast called for real GDP growth of 3%-3.5% for 2010 and 3.5%-4.5% in 2011 and 2012. Less than a month later, the Fed announced plans to buy Treasuries again (a.k.a. "QE2") and, as The WSJ reported this week, there's a tremendous amount of dissention within the Fed about the 'right' policy prescription.

Financial Follies: Whether it's renewed concerns about Europe's sovereign debt crisis, more U.S. bank closures or reports of commercial developers walking away from properties, it's clear the problems in the financial system were not resolved by various and sundry bailouts and government stimulus ... not by a long shot.

Good Politics vs. Good Economics: S&P's downgrade of Ireland's debt and Greece's revenue shortfall show the short-term perils of the austerity measures that have swept Europe. But promising to cut government spending and slash deficits appears to be a winning political strategy in America right now. Certainly, it's a key message of Republican and Tea Party candidates, who appear to have the momentum heading into the November mid-term elections. But if Europe's 'PIIGS' are any example, gridlock might not be so "good" for the economy this time around, much less the financial markets.

Of course, the "good" news here is that there's so much to worry about and the markets typically are darkest just before dawn.

link (http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-hindenburg-omen-is-scary-but-so-are-the-fundamentals-535367.html?tickers=^DJI,^GSPC,XLF,FXE,XHB,TLT,GLD )

video also at link

[Horn]

Of course, the "good" news here is that there's so much to worry about and the markets typically are darkest just before dawn.

Positive worrying, try it as soon as you wake up in the morning... ;D

We need a spam smiley.

[Twisted Titan]

Where going down baby.............may as well kick in some bad@$$ tunes.........


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvsEZZQE7Oc

[gunDriller]

chartism

sometimes i feel like Chartism is primarily a demonstration of that ability to observe patterns.

lizards have it - it helps them identify food, mates, etc.

humans have it - it helps us identify food, mates, etc.

e.g., crumple up a piece of aluminum foil, stare at it long enough, and you will see faces.

in a visual scene full of randomness, it is natural that images that look like something will pop out.


so when we apply this ability to observe patterns to the financial markets, well, perhaps naturally, we see patterns. especially when there is repeating behavior, e.g volatility on options expiry days.

but do these charts really serve as useful prediction tools ?

i'm not saying the charts are useless. it would be nice to have more information. e.g. people say, "if the price drops below critical resistance point X, then Y will happen". perhaps some investors do have stop-loss orders that kick in at price X, and result in additional selling.

[Horn]

Where going down baby.............may as well kick in some bad@$$ tunes.........


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmzv5xJ4wE4