Well, I guess the universe of self-important, upper-middle class "spiritual" women isn't what it used to be. One of the former mo-mo stocks, Lululemon, is down nearly 10% this morning. I haven't traded this one in a while – – it's not a particularly engaging chart – – but it's nice to see this token of some of the worst aspects of our civilization take a hit. Time to go meditate.
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 Gash with Panache
This morning isn't going so great for me. I came into the day 50% committed (that is, half in cash, half in equity positions), and all those equity positions were shorts.
The suck part is that dozens of them got stopped out almost instantly at the opening bell, and that caused some damage. Just about the only smart thing I did today was buy a big block of GDX puts near the open, which turned out great. But getting stopped out of all those shorts (about half my overall portfolio) caused unnecessary damage. I'm down 0.37% right now, which is infuriating, because the overall market is up only .25% as of this writing.
The reason, of course, wasn't what Bernanke said; it was what people thought he might say. And that Phantom Menace cost me. Thus, my hatred of the man has deepened even more, which is saying a lot.
But public enemy #2 is his lieutenant, Janet "peach fuzz" Yellen, who did her duty last night by hinting and winking about more "stimulus" and "accomodation". These ya-ya's don't seem to recognize that there is such a thing as a business cycle and that things don't go up all the freakin' time. I've got your stimulus right here, old woman.
I need to take a breath and regroup. Death to the Fed!
Oh, and good morning.
Analogs (by Springheel Jack)
I was looking yesterday for a reversal of whatever degree at my unconfirmed falling wedge upper trendline on SPX to confirm it, and we got that before it broke up. I'm expecting more upside, and will be watching the 1335 area carefully to see whether an IHS forms there. If it does then the rally will most likely be longer and go higher than I would expect otherwise:
Rip The Face Off Rally
That was some monster rally! It was special in many ways. This was the biggest SPX rally since 12/20, biggest VIX Drop since 5/21 and biggest 10 year yield jump since 3/14. But we are not surprised because we knew it would come. I have been writing about it since: gosh, I even forget myself. This is the reason I did not short the market even when SPX broke 1284. I am afraid I keep repeating myself so very often that you might find it un-exciting. But on the other hand, I have called most of the major turns and bounces correctly without being dramatic. Now that the rally is here, what do we do with it? That depends what is your goal. Are you able to follow the futures overnight and be ready to pounce on the keyboard of your computer the moment the market opens? Do you consider yourself a nimble trader? If so, then you are ready to play. But if you have a regular job with kids and family, you have to go to office in the morning and do hundred other things besides being glued to the computer, you might give it a pass. For those regular folks, cash is king.
