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.

Which Way Thursday?

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Phil Davis of PhilStockWorld has an excellent article out this morning, as always.

In his unimitable style, Phil points out to the McClellan Oscillator, which is also one of my favourite technical indicator.

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Phil shows that the Boyzs have been manipulating the market on a regular basis every month. They panic us to sell stocks to that they can buy cheap and then pump it up so that they can sell high. Isn’t it the same argument I have been making all along? This is happening like clockwork quarter after quarter.

Apart from various TA, which I am sure are great for trading, market is always ruled by greed and fear. Greed builds up slowly and price increase leads to more price increase. Fear acts all of a sudden. Imagine you are alone in a room, reading a thriller and engrossed in it. Now imagine your partner entering the room silently and screams the hell out of you. What will you do? You will be startled, panicked and throw the book and jump out of the chair. After a minute or so, everything is cool and OK.

Today’s situation is similar. The Boyzs are trying to panic us. And we are looking for information wherever we can find them.  What is a regular housekeeping matter has been turned in a power grab by the Republican Party and they will pay heavily for this. We deserve the politicians we elect and the misery they bring along with them.

I have been in this situation before and only thing I can tell is what I would do. Just close eyes and stop thinking. If the market goes up big time, I will sell. If the market goes down more, I will buy.

I do not think the world is going to end on 2nd August, I think it is one month down the line.

 Please visit http://bbfinance.blogspot.com/ to remain updated on the latest developments.

You can follow me on Twitter as well. bbfinanceblog

Thank you for sharing my thoughts.

Afraid Of The Debtmageddon?

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I borrowed the word from Lee Adler.

Right now it is easy to be afraid and difficult to be objective.  So let’s review the market actions in that light.
SPX came down about 5 points today. Big deal! If there is going to be Debtmageddon , there should be mad selling. What the smart money is doing? Why are they not selling out yet? Once again, let us look at things with objectivity.
Below is the SPX daily chart.
SPX daily 26th july

We are above than where we were one month back.
Shouldn’t there be a sell-off of Bonds, pushing the yields higher?  After all, the AAA ratings are about to go. Look at TNX, the 10 year bond yield indicator
Tnx 26th july

Nope. The yield is still below 3% whereas the 10 year average is 4 %.
I am not a big fan of TA. I think when you torture the data for long; you can make it confess anything. So for each bull case in TA, there is a bear case, all from the same chart. However, let us look at the following hourly chart.

Spx hourly 26th july

It looks like we have kind of a bottom or base.
For me more important is the money flow and I will borrow a chart from Lea Adler of The Wall Street Examiner. This is one indicator I follow amongst many other.

Graphic850

As you can see,  cumulative net money flow is still positive and well above the SPX.  Lee’s chart is “based upon the theory that as cash moves between money market funds and the banking system, there's a relationship between that movement and the movement of stock prices. As you can see, it has correlated well with stock prices over the past couple of years.”

 

In his latest email newsletter Lee writes as follows:

“It seemed that virtually every market observer expected that event to have a bearish impact. My expectation was that it would not be felt until mid July due to technical factors having to do with the Treasury supply settlement schedule. But over the past month, the indicator shown above began to surge, boosting support for the market just as the Fed was ready to step away.

Hysterical media pundits have been loudly proclaiming that the sky is falling as a result of the approaching US Debtmageddon. The markets, however, are revealing them as the know nothing clowns that they are. In fact, the opposite of their dire predictions has been occurring, with both stocks and bonds remaining resilient. The Treasury market is even rallying today after the uber depressing N'Obama Boner show last night. You gotta laugh.

 The chart above makes clear the reason for this market resiliency. Money has been flooding into the US banking system over the past month. The source is apparently capital flight out of the Eurozone. While I don't track the data at the source of those flows, we know from anecdotal reports that there's been capital flight out of parts of Europe. Other US banking system indicators suggest that this is the source of the surge of cash into US bank accounts. The cash account balances of  US based foreign banks have been surging in recent weeks. So have their trading accounts. Deposits in domestically chartered banks have also surged, but their trading accounts have not. It would appear that that the resiliency in the US equity market has been driven by foreign private buying. The Fed's data shows that foreign central banks have not been a factor. This is coming from the private sector”

For some reason private capital all over the world considers US to be safer than Europe and I suppose they know more than I do. But this is one reason I have not gone short yet.

But I am not blindly long and I may switch sides all of a sudden inter-day and shout “let’s get out”. Follow me on Twitter to get my latest calls.

Once again, make no mistake; these are all part of forming the top. But we do not want to go short when the market is still going up. That is not smart. I talked about 27th July before and we are almost there. For me the most crucial dates  are between 27th of July to 5th of  August. And I willl be watching the market activities closely to see if my calls are still valid. You see, I do not mind bring wrong, but I do not want to be wrong for a long time.

If you like what you are reading, please forward it to your friends. http://bbfinance.blogspot.com/

It’s Fake, Fake, Fake, Fake!

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Right now the whole country is fixated on the debt ceiling drama. Why not include Paris Hilton for some reliefs and oomph while we are at it. It seems Mr. Boehner is now the most powerful man on earth, holding the fate of the world in his hand. As far as soap operas go, it cannot get any better. We forget why we are here in the 1st place. I am not going to start a debate  who is right or who is wrong, because both these parties are the two sides of a counterfeit coin. Whichever side you choose, it is still fake, fake, fake and fake.


 

 

As I said earlier, I think the market will huff and puff for a day or two before it shoots up. I shall be waiting to “buy the f*****g dip”.  Do not get confused by my call when I say that stock markets are not going to fall yet. I am bullish in the very short term but super bearish in the intermediate and long term.  Why I think the stock markets will go up in near term? Apart from many proprietary indicators and formulae, I also try to think like the Boyzs.
Let us look at the following chart. It is a correlation between SPX and Fed’s Balance Sheet.

Fed & SPX

As you can see, the rise in stock price is the direct result of liquidity injected by the Fed. So now that Fed is no longer pumping money into the system, why it is still going up?  Elementary my dear Watson! Because the Boyzs want “get everyone go long, then we dump them”.
Look at the Seinfeld clip again. They are good! I mean the people running the fake rally. This rally will run till all the money sitting in the sideline has been sucked in and all late comer bulls are fully invested. Do we run away from this rally? If you are a long term investor, then yes, you should probably stay away from this rally. But if you are a trader, you might as well enjoy this ride and make money. That is the best revenge you can take.
I shall be calling out the market turns as I see them. Read my market calls and rate my work .Keep reading “World of Finance”  for the up to date information and stay one step ahead of the game. ( http://bbfinance.blogspot.com/ ).

Also keep in mind this is neither an investment advice nor any solicitation for buy or sell of securities. Please read the full disclosure / disclaimer.

How Did He Know? (by BBFinance)

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Bullshit

Yesterday I wrote: “In all possibilities, we shall see the debt deal early next week, by the 27th of July at the latest.”
And today Bloomberg said: “Over this weekend Congress will forge a responsible path forward,” Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said in a statement after the White House meeting. “House and Senate leaders will be working to find a bipartisan solution to significantly reduce Washingtonspending and preserve the full faith and credit of the United States.”
More from Bloomberg: “Boehner told Republican lawmakers yesterday he would need to introduce legislation by July 27, one lawmaker said; to ensure both chambers could enact it under their regular procedures before Aug. 2, when the Treasury has projected it will exhaust its legal borrowing authority.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said top lawmakers are “committed” to preventing a U.S. default.”
Now I am wondering, does Mr. Boehner read my blog? Otherwise how did he zero in on 27th July? Or am I turning psychic? I am surprised! (Just kidding).
I also said: “In any case, they won’t let the top 0.01% suffer any loss on their investments but all action will of course be done in the name of the ordinary Americans!”
And sure enough : “House Speaker John Boehner told Republican lawmakers they need to provide a positive signal on a plan to avert a U.S. default before Asian financial markets open tomorrow” 
( Bloomberg)
And the President said:” It’s very important that the leadership understands that Wall Street will be opening on Monday, and we’d better have some answers during the course of the next several days,”
I really did not need any vindication of my cynicism!

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Please watch the following interview of Michael Hudson:
You see, once you understand how the great minds work, what are the relationship between the oligarchy and its minions in power, it is not really difficult to forecast the market movement. You do not need waves or any other voodoo technique. All is needed is simple common sense and an understanding of few leading indicators. The COT report helps in identifying the movement of serious money and analysis of market sentiments confirm the coming move. No need to pay money to ilk of Nenner, Prechter or any other forecasters.
Make no mistake; we are this much closer to the mother of all shorts. 2008 will feel like movie trailer.
But we are not there yet. The Boyzs will 1st take us to the garden path. In the coming month they will present the most beautiful scenario of growth and prosperity. There will be statements of hard lessons learned and how all ideologies are now going to work together to make the” American Dream” come true.  “Change you can believe in”. The stock markets in all probability will reach new highs. And when the guards are down, the magic will be extinguished in a flash.
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Should we dance with the wolves? That depends on our individual risk tolerance level. But trading without any bias will help. I see millions who are convinced that the market will fall tomorrow and they are always looking for the top, placing their short bets, only to lose it time and again.
Be nimble, be cautious and above all be a cynic.  And always read http://bbfinance.blogspot.com/ to be well informed.

 

American Soap Opera (by BBFinance)

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I am sitting in front of my crystal ball and for good measure I have put on the magical cap which I borrowed from Harry Potter. Now that Euro has been saved (except for the occasional country default and bomb explosions), we need to save the US of A. I am sure both the Republicans and Democrats are trying hard and they are being ably assisted by the tea party activists and trade union activists to help them in this difficult endeavor.

Wizards hat

My borrowed cap is telling me to think what will happen if the debt limit is not raised. But the answer to that is a no brainer. President Obama will stop sending the Social Security checks and blame it on unreasonable Republicans. Democrats will win both the houses in the next vote and Mr. Obama will be assured of his second term. Our friends the Republicans have really backed themselves into the corner and they realize that. Even Mr. Speaker realizes that.  So Mr.Boehner said " he will instead focus on talks with Senate leaders on a way to raise the federal debt ceiling to avoid a default on U.S. obligations." (Bloomberg) And  President said  that he is confident of the deal. In any case, they won’t let the top 0.01% suffer any loss on their investments but all action will of course be done in the name of the ordinary Americans!

29119_cartoon_main

So I think, in all possibilities, we shall see the debt deal  early next week, by the 27th of July at the latest. Till that time SPX will haw and hem; it may or may not drop 10-15 points, if at all (I am hoping, rather praying for it to drop to get an entry), bears will pile on shorts and Zero Hedge will have a field day predicting the end of USA.  After that we should have a monster rally in last two or three days of the week, which might take SPX beyond its old highs of March. Bear stops will be eliminated, Zero Hedge will still shout about moral bankruptcy in the absence of an actual one, and the bulls will gloat.

That is when we should exit from our longs which we entered last Monday. It will be a case of buy the rumour, sell the news. Next week has the potential to be a real winner if we can be patient and not be afraid in the face of negative news from MSM. After all, they and their masters have one simple agenda: buy low, sell high.

Coming back to debt ceiling debate, even when it gets done, it will not hide the fact that America spends more than it earns and there is no growth except Government spending. Let us go over the basic concept of GDP.  GDP = C + I + G + Net export, where C is consumer spending, I is investment by business and G is spending by Government. Consumer spending cannot grow when there is no real wage growth and unemployment is at such a high level. Moreover increases in the cost of gas and food are taking their toll on discretionary spending.  Businesses are not investing locally because all the local jobs have been sent to China, and political leadership has no vision of growth. Have you seen and encountered the bureaucracy that is killing the small business? Actually the small business in USA is just surviving on the sheer willpower of its owners, and in spite of the Government regulations, which ironically are supposed to be for the benefit of America.  Net Exports are negative. So the only factor that is growing in the equation is Government spending. And that is coming from borrowing. All this does is to increase the bureaucracy and red-tape at different levels of Government, which kills productivity. The end of the story does not look good.

Debt-Ceiling-Cartoon

If America borrows and spends, it will not have any growth and burrow its way deeper into this mess. If on the other hand America cuts spending, it will have problems because more jobs will be lost. Go figure…

As I wrote last night, today was “take the dog to walk” kind of day. SPX closed little higher by 1 point and DOW closed little lower by 43 points. It was like sitting in a rocking chair, being busy but not going anywhere. Only index that show some action was Nasdaq. In fact NDX (Nasdaq 100) broke its long term resistance and closed well over 1 % higher. QQQ is looking good. Look at Apple to understand what happens when a stock breaks its long term resistance. I think next week QQQ will develop two legs. So far it has not participated in this rally, in-spite of huge gains from Apple and Google.

Ndx july 22
Qqq july 22nd

On Monday we might get one last opportunity to get a foot in the coming sharp rally. As my friend Cobra said : “Seasonality was mostly bearish for all the recent Mondays but very bullish for the most last trading weeks of each month since the August 2010.”.

So here we are, starting our weekend with another grand political drama of no substance. (Think, otherwise why they should declare the collapse of the debt talk after the close of the stock market) It is all about winning political points and appeasing the base. Vive l'Amérique.

Enjoy your weekend!