When Arena Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: ARNA) released positive Phase III data on its obesity drug, Lorcaserin, many people expected shares to take off. After all, the company’s press release on Monday confirmed that the drug had proven to be safe and effective.

At 53 years of age, John A. Paulson manages about $30 billion in his hedge funds. Over 2007 and 2008, he pocketed $10 billion in profits after he correctly bet that the subprime-mortgage market would crash. His Credit Opportunities Fund earned nearly 500% gains in that year.

Hundreds of economic and stock-market indicators exist, but many won’t be relevant – even if you could decipher them. Here are a few stock market indicators that are both reliable and readable to everyday investors.