Happy Easter (to Easter-celebrating Slopers out there). This will be quick (which will be the case for the next three days across the board). Regarding the S&P 500 chart………..

 I've been citing something just north of 1,000 on the S&P as the countertrend target for months now. My failure – – and I consider it a big failure – – has been, my IRA notwithstanding, not taking advantage of the rise that I've been pointing at again and again.

By my measure, we are over 50% of the way there, but there's still plenty of upside left. Those huge white candles obviously represent a lot of strength. I think ~1,000 works for three reasons; one, the Fibonacci retracement level; two, the underside of the broken channel; and three, psychologically, getting just above 10,000 on the Dow would be just the sort of "Phew!" event the mass media would love to talk about.

Again, Happy Easter (or Passover, or Flying Spaghetti Monster buffet, or whatever you celebrate).

Hello Everyone,

I have a million thoughts raging through my head right now, but most of them having nothing to do with charts. I get really rattled when I get out of my element – – not in a bad way, but in a mess-with-yo-head kind of way – – and traveling to a new place and seeing different people makes my habit of thinking too much almost oppressive.

One thing I can say without hesitation is that the economy is definitely having an effect here in Jamaica. It's Easter weekend, and this place is practically deserted. At this very moment, on the huge lawn below, DJs are playing music, and there isn't a solitary soul out there. Well, there were a couple of kids pushing each other around in a cart with the phrase Life Is Good painted on the side of it. Painful.

I also wonder how much of the "Yah, Man' and "No problem" is an affectation and how much is just a regular speech pattern. It's kind of charming the first couple of times you hear it, but after a while – – sort of like the Ritz Carlton's "It's a pleasure" – – it sort of grates on you. Man, I'm a miserable creature to be worrying about stuff like this.

Anyway, things will continue to be weird and spotty. I hope Slope still has its audience by the time things are back to normal on Wednesday.

It's already clear to me how choppy Slope is going to be until Wednesday morning. It's going to be largely a series of comment-cleaners as opposed to the always-scintillating content.

Anyway, having bagged several hours of sleep in Atlanta, we're heading toward the Carribean. Happy Easter weekend, and not that you guys need it, but I'll try to give you something to talk about soon.

Well, Sloper Insect Overlord has taken up the role of Commissioned Artist of this blog and sent me the following late last night (you can see the original, larger version here):

I can't imagine what there might be to discuss on a holiday, but after all, I still get 25,000 hits on Saturdays and Sundays, so I'm going to play it safe.

I'm going to be traveling the entire day, so there will be nothing from me. Enjoy the day, and I'll be checking in late tonight. Thanks!

I am in awe of how creative Slopers are…………