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.
The Inflation Mutation
This is not your Grandpa’s Inflation problem
The Fed is starting to play catch-up with inflation signals from the bond market as evidenced by the Fed Funds Rate finally being pulled upward by the implications of the rising 3 month T-bill yield, among other more obvious signals like the long since rising 2yr Treasury yield and ongoing inflation headlines we read about every day.
ETF Focus: Energy
Preface to all four parts: This weekend, I’ve taken some favorite exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and broken them into groups. I’ll share a few thoughts about each of these below, and as always, clicking on any chart will make it fill your screen, whatever size that may be.
This is one sector where I’ve been whipped for the past few weeks. Commodities – -energy in particular – – simply keep bullying their way higher, almost without a downtick to be seen.
Billy Carter Returns
Can someone tell me if I’ve taken a time machine back to 1978? Because I lived through 1978, and I’m seeing a lot of familiar things:
- A deeply unpopular President;
- Stagflation;
- Soaring interest rates;
- A sense of a declining and ever-weakening United States;
- Urban crime on the rise.
And just in case I didn’t get the memo, on this very morning I was walking my dogs and saw these signs. I daresay the majority of people who see the ERA YES sign will have no idea what it’s about. That’s no surprise, because the Equal Rights Amendment was a hot topic from 1972 through 1977, and it’s been effectively dead ever since. I also want to applaud the Irony Gods for placing the only truck in the city limits of Palo Alto next to these signs.
