It’s about time……..
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.
Credit Cards Breakdown Imminent? (by MoneyMiser21)
The relentless march higher for credit card heavyweights Visa and MasterCard may be over (and take American Express with it), should PayPal prove to be the canary in the credit coal mine.
Why? Their charts look eerily similar, with Paypal potentially being the leader.
Goldman Loses Its Grip
Earnings season is upon us, and a couple of big investment banks reported this morning. JP Morgan, true to form, blew the doors off, and they’re hanging out at new lifetime highs. Goldman Sachs, on the other hand, has gapped down, and it seems to me the trendline it already broke is indicative of the breakdown that is transpiring.
Broker and Broker
This past week, one sector which took it on the chin was the brokerages. The reason is easy enough to understand. Two important revenue sources for them are (1) commissions and (2) interest on deposits. And yet (1) commissions are going to $0 across the board and (2) interest rates are plunging, and ultimately, I believe, will be negative. So here is the kind of catastrophe these companies are facing, with most of them down nearly 50% from their highs last year:
Nova Scotia Gap
Bank of Nova Scotia had a nice gap down today. I’m going to go ahead and short it with a stop-loss at 57.35:
Break of America
Some interesting “pivots” happening in the world of banking stocks, such as Bank of Montreal (BMO). One in particular that caught my eye this morning was megacap Bank of America (BAC) which has been pounding out a series of higher highs and higher lows since the depths of the financial crisis. It seems to have stalled at the red horizontal, however, and this morning we’re seeing an intriguing flip lower.
Leave Home Without It
One powerhouse of a stock which is showing signs of weariness is American Express (AXP). Take note of how it’s already done some damage to its long-term uptrend, and how it has formed a small, but clean, distribution top.
