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.

Can We Stop the EKG?

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Good morning, Slopers, and greetings from pitch-black Palo Alto, California.

I am hoping we can put an end to the completely-annoying EKG-style market we’re in, in which we actually have a sensible open (market down) only to be followed by a pointless and near-instant bidding-up of prices, terminated by five hours of the market doing absolutely nothing. It seems to have started already. As I was blearily looking at my iPad in bed, the ES was down 8. I ambled downstairs, and it’s down only 6.25 now. Well, down is down, and some day this war is gonna end. (more…)

Energy Chart Roundup

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I wanted to post copies of many of the charts I examine on a daily basis. I found that there are just too many to post in one entry, so I’ll blast them all out over the course of the next couple of days. We’ll look at other cyclical names, dividend payers, banks, and health insurers. Simply drop by goatmug.com later this weekend. We’ll start with energy as it has been quite interesting of late. If inflation and global growth is muted, why do we still have $105 oil? Let’s jump in. (more…)

Those Godawful Trade Shows

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In the late 1990s, I had a love/hate relationship with the financial trade shows that popped up around the country (and by “trade shows”, I’m talking about things like the Money Show, Traders Expo, and other such events). I loved them because they were bustling, exciting venues where I could check out the latest products, size up the competition, and have more human contact with traders and customers than anywhere else. I hated them because they were a lot of work (I typically manned the Prophet booth as an exhibitor and/or speaker) and were really repetitious with respect to questions, customers, and presentations. (more…)