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.

Boom ZERO

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There is so much data flying around out there. From the Credit data we reviewed yesterday to weakening manufacturing and exports to employment up nicely one month and down big the next, to frisky consumers (the economy’s ‘back end’, putting it nicely) out there confidently living it up.

Big pictures help us let it all simmer and take out the noise. Here is a big picture for you… and it is an unchanged story; America has eaten its financial seed corn (replacing it with the soft meal known as credit) and financial market analysis is now in the hands of data freaks parsing and quantifying every little twitch on short time frames to draw conclusions and extrapolations based on little more than a black hole (that would be debt).

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History is Fact, Part 1

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By Biiwii

In writing this post I came to realize that its subject matter is too expansive for any single post. So consider this an introduction to a series of posts that I’ll probably do in the coming months, as facts come to the fore and lend themselves to historical analysis. Two examples are presented below.

You might not be the type who needs or cares to subscribe to commercial market commentary/advice/trading/management services, but one thing we all can do is work through the freely available stuff calling itself ‘analysis’ flying around out there at warp speed and cull what is based on facts or honestly produced analytical work from the other garbage that is all too often based on ego, bias or agenda.

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Earnings ‘Outside Surprise?’

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Here is one way to put a happy spin on things. Wall Street is increasingly aware of the deceleration in corporate profits and a potential for the upcoming earnings season to be a rough one. This CNBC article dutifully notes these things, but the highlight is one sun shiny optimist who apparently thinks it may already be baked in.

Earnings season could bring an ‘outside surprise’

“Obviously there’s a ton of concern… but my view is that expectations have come down rapidly, and there’s a clear understanding that we’re looking at a real weak environment right now from an earnings perspective,” said David Seaburg, head of equity sales trading with Cowen & Co.

“I think there could be an outside surprise that could carry this market higher, especially given that you have every central bank working to inflate asset prices.”

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Financial Services Industry Eats Clients

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By Biiwii

Ref: Why the big broker behind your financial adviser might be working against you

Tell me, which of them (the big brokers and investment houses) warned anyone about it being time to sell in 2000, or in 2007? There are exceptions out there, especially in smaller boutique style shops. But generally speaking, this thing we call Wall Street (big firms and the media that is their propaganda arm) exists to sell people the dream, then mark it up, front run it (in one way or another, legally or otherwise) extract fees from it and ultimately fleece it on the way down again (as regular people puke a tanking market and pay trading commissions for the privilege).

Here I cue up the old story about when I bought my first and only BMW (it was fine, but really it was not me) back in 2002. The deal was done and I sat with the business manager to finalize the transaction. He was a kid who had been fired from Merrill Lynch not 2 years earlier for keeping his clients in cash and totally safe at the market top. Problem was, he was not turning tricks, err I mean commissions for Merrill. All done.

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Peak Fed

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By Biiwii

clowncarWhile we’re on the subject of Mr. Bullard, the opening segment from this week’s NFTRH (#335) had a little fun with the Fed. Serious multi-market and economic analysis came later, but sometimes you just need to shake your head in awe and wonder.

Peak Fed

The Fed is important because millions of market participants believe it is important and a critical mass of people are under the illusion that its policies have put the “Great Recession” in the past and laid a path for a sustainably good economy going forward. In short, confidence in the Fed has never been more pervasive as it reaps the reward (the respect and confidence of the majority) for a job well done.

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