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.

Pause for the Cause

By -

Well, today’s the day they roll the old biddy out in front of Congress to say whatever she’s going to say to try to keep the house of cards from collapsing a few more weeks, days, or hours. I’m not as worked up about these things as I used to be, since central bankers are rapidly being exposed as the feckless, bumbling clowns that they are, but yesterday I did trim back on some shorts since the juiciness of profits was outweighing the opportunity for much more downside. Prudential is one fine example:

0210-pru

(more…)

The Scariest Stock Market Chart in the World

By -

The title is a paraphrase of “the scariest gold chart in the world” (target below $400) someone sent me in 2009, just before the gold price began its $900 per ounce upward journey. So that’s the contrarian caveat and indeed, I hesitate to write bearish things at a time when small speculators are way too short the market and everybody already seems to know how bearish things are.

But the chart is the chart and without further ado, meet the scariest US stock market chart in the world. I was ready to try a long on the SPY yesterday, but decided to wait because of this (being posted here because it never made it into NFTRH 381’s already bloated 42 pages) chart and some others in the face of which I just could not rationalize a bullish stance. Capital preservation is job 1 now, not bullish speculation. I’ll let the bulls prove something first.

spx, irx and 30-5 yield spread, stock market, bond market

(more…)