Well, it’s a dynamite morning for me (and I could sure use one). I am not as fully loaded as I’d like to be, but my portfolio is up almost three times as much as the market in general is down, and that’s in large part thanks to crude weakening.
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.
Clear Sailing
It’s so refreshing not to have to deal with any central banker yo-yos for a while. How I dread those Bank of Japan or Fed days (Draghi is so feckless now, I’ve stopped thinking about him), worrying about what mayhem they will unleash next. As it is now, the only “event” this week is the jobs report on Friday, and I think the whole world recognizes how made-up the whole “5%” thing is with the unemployment rate. A total “meh.” Who cares anymore?
In any case, earnings season is winding down, and there isn’t a single thing on today’s economic calendar, so people are simply left to ponder a world in which they have priced up even public utility stocks into the mid-20s on a P/E basis instead of, say, 5 like in the old days. After writing my “in your face!” post last night to the bulls, and seeing the ES and NQ actually creep up into the green yesterday evening, it’s heartening to see some damage being done in the pre-dawn. Anyway. Time to walk the dogs.
Boring No Moring
“Well, yes, this is just the sort of blinkered philistine pig-ignorance I’ve come to expect from you non-creative garbage. You sit there on your loathsome spotty behinds squeezing blackheads, not caring a tinker’s cuss for the struggling artist. You excrement! You whining hypocritical toadies with your colour TV sets and your Tony Jacklin golf clubs and your bleeding masonic secret handshakes. You wouldn’t let me join, would you, you blackballing bastards. Well I wouldn’t become a Freemason now if you went down on your lousy stinking knees and begged me!” – MPFC Architect Sketch
Earlier today, I saw in the comments section someone mentioned they were going to “BTFD” and that doing so for month after month was “boring”. Well, yeah, they were right (again), because the market…….for absolutely no reason at all………..chugged higher. I’m not feeling that grouchy about it since I’m so focused on energy shorts, and those took most of the sting out.
All the same, I think the kind of over-the-top arrogance which leads one to believe that they, in perpetuity, can simply buy any dip and profit later is yet another sign that the market is, shall we say, priced for perfection. I’m going to keep the words to a minimum and ask you to drink in these broad index charts and try to convince yourself that they are screaming “buy.” Here’s the Dow Jones Composite:
Iggy Gives Me Wood
During the many years that I’ve been running Slope, readers from all corners of the earth have shipped me gifts, such as chocolates, wine, little statues, and so on. I find it very touching anyone would take the time or trouble, but Scott (Iguanodon) created for me a couple of real gems. First, there’s this puzzle:
