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.

Cold Comfort Tim

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There seem to be some consistent realities in the market recently:

  • If there’s good news (even made-up) about Iran, the market blasts higher;
  • If there’s bad news about Iran, the market slips a tiny bit initially and then recovers all the same;
  • Semiconductors lurch higher every day;
  • I remain 100% short, no matter what slings and arrows are hurled at me;
  • My portfolio creeps higher

That last bit is both strange and encouraging. I well recognize all other Slopers have given up (under the guise of “ya gotta play both sides”, but they’re only on the bull side), but not me.

I’m not playing along, and the freakish ability of my portfolio to get a little stronger each day is both heartening and weird. Want to buy Micron? I won’t get in your way.

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I’m Sorry, Dave

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As I stood on a platform high above Wallace Wade stadium at Duke University, watching the graduating class below me, I was staring at the clouds and moon. I was fortunate enough to be upright with much room around me, unconfined to one of the tens of thousands of tiny chairs in the stadium beneath, and I could stretch and gaze around without seeming rude. As I looked at the moon in the pale blue morning sky, the President of the school uttered over the loudspeaker, “Congratulations to the class of 2026.”

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