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.

It’s Different This Time…But Not for the Reasons I’ve Heard

By -

The argument that I’ve heard repeated ad nauseam as a reason why stocks should simply go up “until the Fed takes the punch bowl away” (even at current market all-time highs) has been, “It’s different this time.” I even heard a comparison today that we’re in a market environment like the mid-90s.

I’d just take a minute to remind traders that Baby Boomers, who were heavily into acquiring all kinds of assets/products/services/loans for themselves and their growing children/teenagers in the 90s, are now facing retirement and are no longer “spending like there’s no tomorrow” on the same kind of stuff. To illustrate this point, I’d direct you to my post of July 17, 2011. (more…)

Q2 Targets Already Reached for Major Indices

By -

My post of April 26th laid out a scenario for minimum and maximum target objectives to be reached by the Major Indices by the end of Q2, based on a number of assumptions.

The following is an update to report that the minimum target objectives have already been reached in 5 out of the 6 indices (Utilities, which had been on a parabolic rise, pulled back before reaching its minimum target), the maximum target was exceeded in the Nasdaq 100 and the Russell 2000, and the maximum target was nearly reached (within 12 points) on the S&P 500. (more…)

Money Flow to Mid-Week

By -

You can see from the percentage gained/lost graphs below which markets are leading in their rally, and which ones are leading in their decline, for the first three days of this week.

My only comment is that, so far, it’s a “risk-on” week for equities, the U.S. $, most of the major EU countries, and some of the social media stocks, and it’s a “risk-off” week for commodities, emerging markets, most BRIC countries, and 30-Year Bonds. (more…)