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.

Elementary, Watson

By -

For reasons that will eventually be self-evident, I’ve taken quite an interest in artificial intelligence (AI) lately. In particular, I’ve been doing a deep dive into the intersection of finance and AI, since there are a gazillion companies pursuing the (misguided) notion that the right code can make them billions.

One such firm is located in San Francisco, and its name is Equbot. Their website goes to great lengths to show the sheer volume of data they are processing, the techniques they are employing, and the speed they are handling multiple spigots of information:

models
(more…)

Beginnings and Endings

By -

I’m actually pretty good at tending to plants, but I noticed most of our orchids were either dead or down to just leaves. Perhaps later this year they’ll spring back to life again – – a few of them, anyway – – but it got me to thinking about the contrast between how things begin (like when you are given the orchid by a friend) and how it winds up (a few months later). Life is like that in a lot of ways – – the idealized beginning versus the eventually reality.

(more…)

Nary a Wobble

By -

At this point, what is there left to say, really? The super simple engine of (a) Trillions of Fed Bux leading to (b) ceaselessly higher equity prices continues to work with the certainty of a wizard’s wand.

Below is chart after chart of major U.S. equity indexes, stripped of their price data and merely showing the trio (50, 100, 200-day) of exponential moving averages. The ascent in recent months isn’t just smooth; it is relentlessly powerful, and none of the lines are even bothering to threaten a bearish crossover. Just look at this freak show…….

slopechart COMP
(more…)