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.

A Little Long – EPP

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How’d that quote go? – “Don’t fight the Fed…”  As of Friday, I am still net short, but have more longs (as a %) than I have had since 2007.

QE 

To be clear, I fundamentally believe most Western economies are circling the bowl; and the Fed is dumping water in, praying it can keep the turd from going down…  it’s just a matter of time.

Since mid-late October sometime, I’ve been taking small bites of EPP (iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan) on any drop.  From the iShares site: http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/EPP.htm

 

Pros: Given the 20% inflation Ben & Co. just dumped into the bowl, I like the geographic breakdown:

Australia              65.46%

Hong Kong           19.29%

Singapore            12.67%

New Zealand         0.79%

Macau                  0.64%

China                   0.27% (<– and specifically that this is not a large % of the mix)

Additionally, as the world hunger for materials grows, 10% of EPP is BHP Billiton.

 

Cons: I’ve been cautious with the accumulation, as over 46% of this ETF is in Financials.  Sure, as a %, most of the Financials are ANZ banks, but I have such a limited trust of this sector – I can easily imagine some panic-inducing event turning this into a loser faster than the HFT machines can dump it.

 

TA: The price data is strong above the cloud:

EPPcloud 

EPP appears to be at a confluence of support.  I'm holding at this point, and will add another chunk if it can manage to hold the blue line.  If it breaks the overhead green, I’m adding more for what I believe should be another nice leg up:

EPPpara 

An Amazing Island

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I guess the days of guest writers crowding my list of posts are over; except for Springheel Jack (thank you, Jack! Don't ever slack!) it's pretty much just me these days.

So I need to offer you up on this sunny Sunday morning, and I'll make it Adobe. 

1114-adbe

The highlighted chunk of prices is a rarely-seen island, and coupled with the fact there seems to be a very clean stop-loss level at exactly $30, I plan to short this stock immediately on Monday morning (assuming, of course, that it doesn't start trading above $30!).