Moments ago, I got an email from Iggy saying Robin Williams was found dead; this is truly shocking and sad. I’d like to share with you one of the best comedy shows of all time, one I enjoyed quite a bit in the early 1980s. It’s all I can think of doing right now………..he was a mad genius:
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.
My Eastern Bloc Tour
As most of you know, I was away for nearly two weeks on “vacation”. Typically, when I go 
somewhere new – – – even something minor, like walking into a new store – – I can typically write up some impressions I had about the place. One would think that a tour of Prague, Poland, and Berlin would evoke all kinds of prose. Strangely, virtually nothing came to mind, and I wasn’t even sure I could muster up a “post-travel” post.
A few folks asked me if I would write one, however, and I do have a few things to say, including one conclusion that surprised me. For those who don’t know me so well, an important preface is that I’m not that keen on traveling. I’m a notorious homebody, and the nuisance of planes, passports, and expensive hotels really isn’t my cup of tea. I’d rather just stay home with my dogs. But occasionally I am wrested lose from the snug of Palo Alto. (more…)
Calvin Predicted the iPhone Economy
This is from Calvin & Hobbes about a dozen years before the first iPhone was introduced; I’d said Mr. Watterson pretty much nailed it, as usual:
2014: A Year of Indecision and Volatility
Each candle on the SPX:VIX ratio chart below represents one year. I last wrote about this ratio pair on July 31st.
You can see at a glance that price action has been extremely volatile, so far, this year and has nearly re-tested the lows of last year’s candle. The Momentum indicator remains elevated at an all-time extreme on this timeframe.
At the very least, bulls will have to push the price above the 150.00 level and hold it there to coax investors into putting their money in equities in the near-term…otherwise, we’ll continue to see volatile intraday swings, or even a much bigger correction in equities if price falls and holds below the 110.00 level. (more…)
Demolish the Homebuilders
There are a slew of ETFs which look to me like beautiful bull traps; in other words, the bidding-up that took place on Friday and today is simply pushing them unwittingly into the fierce maw of the ursine set. One fine example is the homebuilders ETF, shown below, whose horizontal I’ve put at the price level $30.97.
