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.

Marketing Moronicism

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I went to a Jesuit college, and I excelled at philosophy and religious studies. I naively decided to get a major in marketing, which in retrospect I consider idiotic. Unless you are entering a profession involving something that puts people at risk (engineering, medicine, etc.) my view is that college is a place to learn to think, not to learn a vocation. My marketing degree was an utter and complete waste of time. (Although I graduated in only 2 1/2 years, since I was eager to get working).

I was reminded of this when I read about a marketing success for a cereal named Shreddies. This is not sold in the U.S., but instead is in Canada, New Zealand, and Britain. Shreddies was your basic shredded wheat cereal, much like any Mini Wheats you’d find in America, but it was an old, stodgy brand. (more…)

1795 or Boost

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To an extent Friday went much as I laid it out in the morning. SPX overshot the perfect retests of the daily middle band and the 50 hour MA by a couple of points, but on the NDX and RUT patterns I was looking at we saw perfect tests and reversals at pattern resistance. This gives the bears the edge as long as resistance on those patterns holds, and gives me two excellent marker patterns to watch as we wait to see whether the double-top on SPX is going to break support at 1839/40.

While these last I’ll be posting both of the NDX and RUT patterns every day, and on RUT the next obvious target is the double-top target in the 1130 area, the 61.8% fib retrace just above at 1132, and falling channel support which is currently in the same area. RUT 60min chart: (more…)

The Facebook Effect

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Nothing conjures up visions of grandeur today faster than anything related to social media. No not0330-fb using it, that’s for the uninformed.  The real place one wants to focus their eyeballs is in the mad rush to develop something that sounds as if it can make money. then, don’t try selling it to users first. No, first things first. Sell it to the most highly coveted customers known in tech today: the investors.

Get this group on board first and customers be damned for we’re talking cha-ching here. Actual customers or users are secondary to today’s silicon valley mindset. You just need the “story” of users or customers to sell the idea first, not the other way around. (more…)

Lingering Tops

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As we approach the end of the first quarter, it’s clear what a slow grind it’s been: January down, February up, March sideways. The S&P is up a roaring 0.50% over the span of three months, and that figure belies all the smoke and tumult behind the scenes.

Tops are very different than bottoms. Bottoms are made in violent, short-term bursts. The final plunge in early March 2009 washed out all the fear in a stroke, and a violent rise began. (more…)