Back on December 30th, I pointed out Martin Marietta as a good short candidate. It looks like things are moving the right direction with this one.
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.
The Facebook Bubble
The past two days, on the front page of the New York Times, the latest investment (from none other than Goldman Sachs) in Facebook is featured. Nominally, the valuation of Facebook is now at $50 billion, a new record, making mid-20s Zuckerberg one of the richest people on the face of the Earth. (I would also note that today's Times also gives Facebook the majority of the front page of the Business section as well).
It wasn't that long ago that I remember passing by the little placard on a small downtown office in Palo Alto looking for people to come work at "TheFacebook.com". I've even seen Zuck downtown a few times back in the days of Prophet (they have hence moved from Palo Alto's little downtown to Stanford Industrial Park). So it's pretty amazing seeing how fast this company, led by this one youngster, has grown.
But, as the graph below indicates, Facebook is now nominally worth more than eBay and Yahoo (by a long shot). I think Facebook is elegantly designed, and it's inconceivable how any firm, no matter how well-funded, could push them off the top of the social networking heap any time in the next decade. But does this valuation make any sense, or is it just the 3,875th bubble we're witnessing in our lifetimes?
Weak Precious Metals
Yesterday I offered the idea to short GLD, and naturally some folks thought this was nuts (one gent wrote, "Not ever. No way."). I can understand the concern. Precious metals have been strong for years.
I will point out this, though. Here's what the EUR/USD chart – – gold's very best friend – – has been doing lately:
One would think gold (and silver, and GDX) would be pushing to record highs based on this kind of strength. Instead, here's the latest from the gold futures overnight:
GDX is already down more than 1% as of this writing, and if it breaks 58.93, it could really start to accelerate downward.
