Ever since beginning the ‘Macrosom‘ theme in July (and updating it here), NFTRH has been managing macro changes that would positively affect the gold sector, and quite possibly have a negative effect on broad stock markets. Early on in the precious metals bear market we noted they were “in the mirror” and opposite the stock market, which on the post-2011 cycle has been the beneficiary of the Fed’s inflation, instilling confidence in their policies by conventional market participants (after all, the right assets were going up on this cycle). In August, it appeared that the first real thrust in the direction of our macro theme kicked in as the stock market cracked.
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.
The Clown Show Has Come and Gone
The opening segment from this week’s edition of Notes From the Rabbit Hole has a little fun with the post-FOMC market situation. Unfortunately, there is all too much reality in this clowning around. From NFTRH 387:
Our main theme has been that the ironclad post-2011 confidence in the Federal Reserve among conventional market participants would slowly but surely start to fade because macro parlor tricks, so vigorously employed by the Bernanke Fed, were only tricks or in some cases (Operation Twist) borderline magic, after all.
At biiwii.com (still unsure if or in what capacity the site may reappear) we used to have fun with clown car videos, as the various Fed members piled out honking horns, doing somersaults and shouting incomprehensible phrases and announcements.
Rise of the Quantitative Robots
[edit] After this post we had another quick look at the S&P 500 and its monetary base counterpart, with a view courtesy of our good friends as SlopeCharts 😉
I read an article at Bloomberg the other day that focused upon a former mathematics professor who now runs his own Mom & Pop ‘quant’ shop (his home) from the desert plains in New Mexico. The article noted that there are big, powerful quants in New York City and there is a constellation of little guys out there writing their algos and skimming the markets with the precision that mathematical codes instruct.
Meet the DIY Quants Who Ditched Wall St for the Desert (more…)
A 3D Printer Hype Revival
February 25, 2014 with DDD stock price at $76/share I, a former manufacturing guy, wrote this…
3D Printing: No Barrier to Future Losses for Investors
I was actually surprised that the comments from SeekingAlpha readers were so measured and rational. But this interaction between two commenters shows there is the other side as well; the one that really enjoys a good promotion.
Gold, Stocks and the Miners
One is the star of the year so far, grinding higher in what could be the launch phase of a new bull market as confidence wanes in the face of NIRP and other desperate global policy actions, and the realization that this disgraceful policy designed to spur speculation and asset price appreciation is all policy makers have got left in their bags of tricks. The endgame is a bag with a hole in it; a monetary black hole.
The other grinds on in what could be the last significant hope replenishing bounce before new downside is explored. Various US and global indexes are already in bear markets but casino patrons are trained to look at the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow as “the stock market” and these have not yet gone ‘bear’. If the current bear-trend bounce fails however, that confirmation would be coming promptly.
