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.

Housing Starts Stalled -Cold Snap & Hot Rates

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Unusually cold weather and frigid temperatures from snowstorms slowed the construction of single-family housing units in January. Would-be homebuyers and households holding out to upgrade in the coming months could face even higher costs as tariffs for material imports and hostile mortgage rates put a housing rebound further on ice. 

January Freeze Brings Halt to New Housing Starts

Adjusted data show that new housing starts were 8.4% lower in January 2025 compared to December’s revised 2024 figures and approximately 13% down from January 2024. New housing starts for the first month of the year dropped to 993,000 versus 1.08 million the month before. January rates for buildings of five or more units were 355,000. 

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Raw Earth

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The market has totally shifted. A few weeks ago, I would congratulate myself on making even the tiniest profits or, more often than not, not losing too horribly. These days, the problem is more along the lines of trying not to leave too big a mountain of profits on the tale by being scared or impatient.

The profits do quell any puzzlement or resentment I’ve got with respect to giving away so many fantastic ideas, because I’m having a ball. My declaration about the crypto market’s direction and its influence on equities was dead-nuts-on amazing. Every word, punctuation mark, and tiddle in what I predicted was spot-on. Here’s Bitcoin:

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