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.
The notion that there is art involved in interpreting the economy and financial markets is probably heresy to many market participants and probably 99.9% of economists (that .1% guy being the one who’s excluded from the meetings and egghead social gatherings), whether they be right or left leaning (I always find it entertaining to hear right wing and left wing economists duke it out, as I did on NPR yesterday, coming to diametrically opposed conclusions amid the tax reform debate). (more…)
As we noted in our article last week, we have had strong reasons technically as well as from a macro perspective to be bullish on the ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (TBT) since its low just under 33 on September 7.
And the TBT has continued to rise since then. It gapped up Wednesday to $35.50 from Tuesday evening’s close at $34.46.
The upward thrust occurred just in advance of the unveiling of the President’s Tax Reform Plan (Wednesday at 3 PM ET), so we have to couch its bullish action under that umbrella. But with lower taxes for most individuals and businesses and a one-time business foreign repatriation tax-break being reasons to anticipate an increase in spending, infrastructure, and investment, higher interest rates likely will be a bi-product of such a policy mix — if tax reform becomes law. (more…)
A good friend of mine (a Sloper from Mexico, and a very cool fellow overall) sent me the chart below, which illustrates the biggest drop in the S&P 500 for any given year, going way back to when Teddy Roosevelt was in office. In case anyone didn’t mention it to you already, 2017 is the most godawful year so far (for bears) in that entire century, since its drawdown is the puniest ever.
Although there were new highs yesterday all over the place, tech stocks peaked nine trading days ago (thanks in large part to Apple’s lame-o new product rollout). As I’m typing this (an hour far too early for anyone sensible), the NQ is down over twenty points, having been repelled yesterday by a modest topping pattern.
