If you look very, very closely, you can see a modest divergence between IWM and XLK.
![](https://slopeofhope.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/slopechart_XLKIWM-640x343.jpg)
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.
Slope is so vast, I often forgot some of the coolest tools we have here. One I just stumbled upon is the Volatility Matrix, described in detail here. Below are my 15 current put positions laid out on this matrix. Interesting stuff!
This post’s theme is essentially “if only the following could happen……….” In other words, if any of these given charts undergoes a certain transformation, it would change the tone of the market.
We start with the high-yield bond fund JNK. This is clearly grappling with a major resistance line (which is the base of its giant top). If it continues to fail to penetrate above this line, and indeed if it turns lower to break the series of “higher lows”, the bears’ chance of success this year will go up markedly.
Let’s jump outside the U.S. and look at some major markets. We begin with China, by way of the FXI, which actually had its peak a full sixteen years ago (!!!!!!!!!) and has been trying to recapture its former glory ever since. Let’s face it, they are a communist dictatorship, and that simply doesn’t lend itself to creativity, innovation, and true prosperity. They have terrorized their billion inhabitants into compliance, on pain of death, but that is not a sustainable business model.