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.

Two New Trades: MCP & ALXA (by Ryan Mallory)

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I must have volatility running through my veins today because I just took on two historically very volatile charts and entered into long positions on them both. I jumped in Molycorp (MCP) at $12.48 and then shortly thereafter I got into Alexza Pharmaceuticals (ALXA) at $4.83 – but not to be confused with ALXN which I am also long in from $102. 

Both of these trades are not ones you want to stay with for days on end, because there is a time factor risk associated with each – in that they both tend to react hard to news pieces both positive and negative. So the longer that you are in one of these trades, the more likely you will be impacted by such a news event. As a result, my target time frame for holding these stocks is 1-3 days. 


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Beyond the Looking Glass

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Obviously the most important things to watch this week are the central banks, as they reveal whether the economic situation is desperate enough for them to print enough money to set off a flight from cash into assets, and thereby spark off another leg of the bull run in equities. It really is a funny old world nowadays. 

The most important decision should be made tomorrow, and that is when a German court will rule on whether the proposed ECB play to print money to buy EU sovereign bonds is illegal under German law. I hear that Morgan Stanley is suggesting 40% odds that it will be ruled illegal. I'm surprised the odds are as low as that. If the German court backs the plan then European QE is on, which would look bullish. If they don't the prospects for the the Euro and equities will look grim.

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