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.

What a Jerk

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Since I took my solemn pledge not to say anything bad about you-know-who (although it seems most Slopers would rather I go back to my old ways), I’ll continue to keep my mouth shut, although it’s like being a famous baker who can’t talked about goddamned FLOUR, but I’m a man of my word.

Suffice it to say that the pronouncements offered on Friday were clearly fictitious, and this market has entered a completely paranoid and delusional state, as it is getting wildly jerked up and down. Personally, I’m having an AWFULLY good day.

So Far, So Good in The Strait

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I’ve written well over two thousand posts over the last sixteen years, and this will be the first that doesn’t include any charts that I drew myself. That feels a bit strange but I’m writing this post to draw everyone’s attention to what is really important about this Iran War.

The war itself is largely irrelevant. Whether the US, Israel or Iran are bombing, or blockading, or blustering doesn’t really matter. All that is really important on the bigger picture are the Strait of Hormuz and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the two key chokepoints for world trade routes in the Middle East:

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Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler

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Yesterday evening, the market had a micro-crash based on rumors that Iran was getting bombed (of all places!) Those rumors were quickly dismissed, and the market had a shaky recovery all night long.

As of half an hour before the opening bell, equities are bruised but no longer battered. When the Bible speaks of wars and rumors of wars, this is probably the chart it has in mind.

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