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.

We Built This Citi on Rock ‘n’ Roll

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There aren't many things upon which you can count on in life, but here is one: this is going to be a really interesting day in the markets.

The US government's acquisition of a giant stake in Citi (at, what, ten times the market price? Twenty? I haven't read yet) has shaken the market badly. I feel compelled to wear in a Fez in celebration of my FAZ.

And how I wish I could show RetracementLevels – – spot on the money!

Anyway. Strap in. This could be a big one.

How Many Others Are Out There?

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I read in the Times today about yet another investment fraud – – this one where the two "managers" simply stole the $667 million outright.

How many more of these schemes are lurking out there? Can you imagine what these two guys – – as well as Stanford – – were thinking the moment the heard about Madoff? (probably something rhyming with "Oh, spit……")

But surely this isn't over. The more pressure investors put on their money managers to provide incontrovertible evidence that their funds are, honest to God, safe, sound, and genuine, the more of these charlatans are going to be discovered.

So they're out there, and they're nervous. Some might be planning to flee to a country with favorable extradition laws; some might be thinking of jumping off a bridge; and some are probably hoping to recover their losses before they're caught.

The point is that there's lots more of these guys to come, including when the "big wipeout" happens in maybe a year or so.

Technical Analysis Rocks

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I don't keep very careful records of my portfolio performance, mainly because I don't have to. I simply want my assets to grow.

I just ran some calculations, though, for my main account (the big one). For January, I was down 1%, and the S&P was down 8.57%. Not bad. I'd rather there be a gain, but that isn't bad.

February has one day of trading left, but as of now, the S&P is down 8.84% for the month (almost identical to January). But instead of having a small loss, I have a gain. Which, I was shocked to find out, is over 30%.

Wow. ProphetCharts rules. Technical analysis rules. This is a good feeling.