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.

Chart Overview

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Well, as I've said earlier, it was a good day for the bears, but one day does not a trend make nor an old trend break. I'd like to see a down move just as hardy on Tuesday before getting too excited. I took some profits today in some large short positions, and I'm going to remain "half-committed" until I see stronger evidence that the path toward 880 is wide open.

In the meantime, here are a few major charts and my thoughts on each of them. The NASDAQ, below, has come full circle from its breakout a couple of weeks ago. All those gains are zeroed out now. The big decision at this point is whether the weakness continues. The gap has been filled and there's some support at the Fibonacci fan line. My gut-feel is that we'll recover some of the lost ground tomorrow and then resume the drop on Wednesday. But, honestly, that's just a wild guess.

0615-$NDX

The ES paints a clearer picture. We see very formidable resistance above at 935, and a pretty clear free-fall to 880. Even if we noodle around between 920 and 935, I think the 880 level is a pretty plain destination.

0615-ES

The Russell 2000 also has a lot of dead air under it. I'd say this will head back down to about 475 or so if the S&P makes it to 880.

0615-RUT

I'm still short USO, and a drop to the low 30s would make (a) a great place to cover and (b) potentially a great place to reverse the position.

0615-USO

That's it from me. Good night!

The Bankrupt American Empire

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I just wanted to draw your attention to this fascinating little article that Urszula sent me. Here's an excerpt:

There are meetings being held
Monday and Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia, (formerly Sverdlovsk)
among Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation
Organization. The United States, which asked to attend, was denied
admittance. Watch what happens there carefully. The gathering is, in
the words of economist Michael Hudson, "the most important meeting of the 21st century so far."

It is the first formal step by our major
trading partners to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
If they succeed, the dollar will dramatically plummet in value, the
cost of imports, including oil, will skyrocket, interest rates will
climb and jobs will hemorrhage at a rate that will make the last few
months look like boom times. State and federal services will be reduced
or shut down for lack of funds. The United States will begin to
resemble the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe. Obama, endowed by many with
the qualities of a savior, will suddenly look pitiful, inept and weak.