Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

Feeb

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Let's think about this graph of the S&P 500 for a moment:

There have been, since the November 21st lows, three surges higher. Specifically:

 Low Date
 Low Value
 High Date
 High Value
 Nov. 21  743  Dec. 1  864
 Dec. 5  824  Dec. 8  909
 Dec. 15  860  Dec. 17  909

 What's interesting to me is the percentage changes for each of those lunges; they are, respectively, 15%, 10%, and 5%. In other words, it's getting weaker each time; plus, the last surge didn't even make a higher high.

This, to me, is simply more evidence that the market will cough and wheeze its way to the finish line next week. I remain short.

The Last Full Week Begins

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Good morning, everyone. Very little to report on what promises to be a quiet week, but it's always a good idea to get a grasp of the latest retracement levels vis a vis the ES. Here we go:

The support levels are much closer than the resistance levels; in fact, the only resistance level you see (at 910) is the only visible one here, as the next two are way up at 925 and 950; so those holding short positions (like me) might need to hang on tight if buying appears.

Friday of next week is the first trading day of 2009 (and, believe me, if the 30 minute rule ever applies, that'll be the day to observe it!) which should change the tone of this market, which has, let's face it, grown pretty monotonous lately.