Zoltan Poszar: The Fed Is Not Your Friend
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.
Oink
Nothing But Imports
When I was a kid, I vaguely remember on the nightly news they would talk about the trade imbalance. The idea at that time was, gasp, how could the American powerhouse of manufacturing actually send OUT more stuff than it takes IN? So the desire was to have a trade surplus.
Well, let’s just say those days are long gone. The imbalance is absolutely eye-popping:
By the way, this is little more than a comment cleaner. For what it’s worth, the ONLY thing I’ve done today is sold my June puts, for NO OTHER reason than to reduce time risk. It’s stupid, but it helps me psychologically. All my other positions are intact, with the CLOSEST option a delicious 70 days away.
April ISM and the Forward View
ISM hints at forward deceleration
Uncle Buck
As a former manufacturing guy I am well aware of how monetary policy and the state of the US dollar affects US manufacturers. But I have not been that guy for so long now that I tend not to look at it as closely anymore. But the current time seems appropriate for a review of the manufacturing sector.
I actually used to look down upon the ‘services’ economy as something almost artificial, given that the US had been exporting its manufacturing base (and thus, much of its productivity) for decades and replacing normal economic cycles with monetary chicanery (like the Fed’s ability to regulate the economy through interest rate manipulation) in order to keep the consumerist racket going.
(more…)Exhibit Z
The only major economic data that came out today was the ISM Manufacturing Report. The expected number was 57.5, and the actual number was 55.4, an enormous miss. Looking at the long-term history of this data, it’s pretty obvious where we’re heading, and it rhymes with “the hitter”.
