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.

Mutual Fund Outflows Warn Of Another Major Leg Down in Equities

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On the chart below, I plotted the month-end values of the S&P 500 against the Domestic (U.S.) Long-term Equity-Only Mutual Fund Flows. Although we don’t have the data for the October month end yet, the first two weekly reporting periods (Oct 7th & Oct 14th) for Domestic Equity Funds have seen net outflows of -$1.31 & -$1.44 billion, respectively, for a total of roughly $2.8 billion in net outflows MTD (data for the week ending Oct 21st should be released in the next day or two).

Note how investors “bought the dip” in previous corrections, providing institutions with the capital to buy more stocks which fueled the next leg higher in U.S. equities whereas this most recent correction has been followed by persistent, massive withdrawals from US equity funds.

$SPX vs Fund Flows
$SPX vs Fund Flows

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The One Percent Falter

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When I was in high school, there was one kid (a punker) who wore a t-shirt that said EAT THE RICH. It was obnoxious, but as I’ve grown older, I’m starting to embrace that philosophy. In any event, it’s heartening to see that as the mega-bubble reaches its ruinous end, the cracks are beginning to be seen in places like Ferrari’s IPO, which is beginning to poo all over itself.

027-race

I suspect, as the months wear on, this thing will continue to collapse. I mean, come on, people – – it’s Ferrari, for God’s sake. Do you really think this is a business model with a fantastic future?