Barry Ritholtz beat me to the punch pointing this out, but the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx isn't just a sports phenomenon, it works in the business media too. This was the cover of Business Week three months ago, when the ten-year bond yield was hovering near 4.5% in March. This morning the yield rose above 5.3% and the speed at which rates have risen has spooked the equity market in recent days.

Keep in the mind that magazine cover stories often serve as contrarian indicators, and not just in sports or Madden football video games. I still remember a timely Barron's cover highlighting a glowing article on Dennis Kozlowski that essentially crowned him the next Jack Welch. We know what happened shortly after that.

I don't think one should always take action just based on covers like this, but at the very least, do a little research and see if it might be a worthy contrarian bet.