The satire of comics and the covers of national news magazines and business publications show what’s making news now. As we know, the market, on the other hand, is a discounting mechanism; it anticipates future events, and reflects them in the current price.

Magazine covers are intended to sell magazines. The related cover story is typically written because that featured topic is resonating with the public at that moment. When a magazine decides something is worthy of its publication’s highest profile, it usually means that trend is reaching a climax.

Why does this work as a contrary indicator? MCD is a classic example. We have included three pictures of magazine covers in this post: two feature MCD and one focuses on SBUX. The two MCD cover stories pictured were published in 1998 and 2007, respectively. Then look at the cartoon from the Seattle post last week.

Just building a mosaic!