The Hindenburg Omen

As if we weren't clutching our bucks to our breasts tightly enough these days, along comes Mark Hulbert at MarketWatch with this little gem:

Watch Out for the Hindenburg Omen
ANNANDALE, Va. (MarketWatch) -- According to a little-known technical indicator known as the Hindenburg Omen, the risk of a stock market crash right now is high.

Should we pay any attention to this indicator?

"Yes" is the answer from quite a few of the investment newsletters I monitor. Indeed, in recent days so many advisers have referred to the warnings that the indicator is emitting that investing blogs are all abuzz.

And, naturally, more than a few of you emailed me to ask that I devote a column to it.

Let me start by reviewing the Hindenburg Omen. The core idea behind it is that it's bearish whenever there are a large number of both new 52-weeks highs and new 52-week lows on the New York Stock Exchange... click to read on.

Bottom line, proponents of the indicator think our portfolios are about to crash and burn.

Oh, the humanity.