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.

Overview Of The Metals Market

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Overview Of The Metals Market

By Avi Gilburt, ElliottWaveTrader.net
 

First published on Sat Jul 8 for members of ElliottWaveTrader.net: As I see many metals investors and traders begin to throw in the towel, I wanted to take this opportunity to again explain why I will not count myself amongst them just yet.  However, I will explain below what it would take to have me begin to look for lower lows in the overall complex relative to 2015, since I have been asked so often.  (And, I usually get those questions as the market bottoms and begins a strong rally). 

While the market did not follow through on the immediate bullish set up I outlined over the last several weeks, it does not invalidate the larger degree perspective we still see in the market.  And as sentiment becomes more and more bearish, there are many more signs that a strong rally is setting up to take hold.  But, again, even though the smaller degree immediate bullish set up invalidated, and we will have to await the next one to set up, I think that anyone aggressively maintaining on the short side of the market will likely overstay their welcome.

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Janet Yellen Just Made History

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For the last several years, when we were still below the 1800 region in the SPX, we have been prognosticating that the market is going to head to the 2537-2611SPX region before any correction will be seen. Thus far, the market is still on target.

As George Santayana wisely said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And, it seems that Ms. Yellen is forgetting her history.

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Can Bonds Rally To New All-Time Highs?

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Since the Fed increased rates in December, the bond market has been rallying. Many have told me that the Fed controls all markets. Many have told me that you cannot fight the Fed. Many have told me that the Fed controls the bond market.

My question is if anyone has told the bond market this?

The Fed has now increased rates 3 times since December of 2016. So, if the Fed truly controls the bond market, and if the Fed truly controls the direction of interest rates in general, doesn’t that mean that overall rates should be rising?

Well, the bond market does not think so. Since December of 2016, the bond market has been rallying, as can be seen in the attached chart below of TLT. Yet, the Fed has raised interest rates 3 times during this rally.

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The Stock Market Just Broke

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The market made a new all-time high this past week. However, the manner in which it pulled back from that all-time high on Friday has caused me to slightly modify my expectations.

I have now seen about a dozen articles over the last week, mostly presented as head-scratching ramblings, discussing the breakdown of so many “correlations.” One of the recent articles noted:

“Under normal circumstances, you could wake up on any given day, take one look at the yen, and make a pretty solid prediction about how Treasurys traded overnight and/or how the Nikkei held up. And vice versa. Lately, that relationship has broken down almost entirely.”

And, in early 2017, even Morgan Stanley had taken notice:

“Regional correlations, cross-asset correlations and individual stock and FX correlations have fallen simultaneously. That’s unusual; we haven’t seen a shift this severe in over a decade . . .”

Yet, despite pointing out how the market does not make sense, some of the same authors attempt to use the paradigms that broke down in order to explain that which they say does not make sense. Yes, you heard me right. They recognize that their analysis methodology has failed to keep them on the correct side of the market, yet attempt to explain that failure using the same methods which they noted have failed them.

One attempted to “explain” why correlations have broken down through a, as he put it, “truly torturous, yet completely plausible, explanation for what we’re seeing in equities and rates.”

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Is This a Big FAKEOUT?

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By Avi Gilburt, ElliottWaveTrader.net

One of the benefits of being a part of a trading room with over 3000 members, over 400 professionals, and 15 analysts is that we all are able to take advantage of the combined wisdom of all the members and analysts in the room.  Since I am but one person within this room, I am clearly unable to see all potentials the market may be throwing at us.  And, thanks to the collective wisdom of the room, several people have provided me with insights today which I did not have on my own.   So, there is no question that we all can benefit from the collective wisdom of the room, and for that I am grateful to you all.

First, our analyst Garrett Patten private messaged me today to tell me that he is having a hard time seeing enough stocks setting up to support a rally to 2500SPX at this time.  Rather, many of them still need more pullback before they can substantiate such a run.  And, since this is a market of stocks, I clearly need to take that into account in my own analysis. (more…)