A very long-term Golden Cross

CNBC noted that the financial sector is about to do something it hasn't done in a decade.

"The 50-week moving average is getting very close to the 200-week moving average. In other words, it's getting very close to a golden cross on a weekly basis. Golden crosses tend to be bullish on a daily basis on the charts, but when you get it on a weekly basis, it's even more so. In fact we haven't seen one of those crosses since 2012," said Maley.

Not really sure what they're looking at, since the 50-week average crossed above the 200-week average almost a month ago. But regardless, let's take a look at forward returns anyway.

When we see a long-term trend-following measure trigger a buy signal, by definition the trend has already been underway for a while, so it's not unusual to see some short-term weakness. Even so, this one did, indeed, precede better-than-average returns going forward, with no losses from 3-12 months later.