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.
Pigs No Longer Fly; What Are the Implications?
Along with the highly publicized loss of leadership from big tech, the US stock market is now in danger of losing another, and possibly more important leader, the piggies or banking sector.
While the weekly chart of BKX has not yet broken down, it is very close to doing so after sporting a negative RSI divergence for the better part of the last year. We should not jump the gun with bearish scenarios, but as always we want to be among those looking forward and ready, just like in 2007, which was the last time BKX-SPX began to roll over in earnest.
And Banks Wonder Why People Distrust Them
If it wasn’t for the sheer magnitude of the idiocy associated with what happens behind the scenes at most major banks one would just laugh. However, one can’t help but look at just the latest story to grace the headlines referencing Bank Of America™ and its now uncovered “oopsy” accounting and wonder should you laugh or be scared.
Suddenly it’s been revealed that all the “extra” money they had to bolster their balance sheets which allowed them to offer dividends, buy backs, et al actually wasn’t there. So much so that the Federal Reserve (supposedly the overseers that are responsible that such things don’t/can’t happen) has now rescinded the “all clear go ahead and pay out” to “Holy crap what?” (more…)
The Scarlet Absence Of A Letter Of Credit
If there’s one thing we all know about banks and bankers: they love to tell tales in public of how much they value their customers. However, what you’ll never hear them profess in private: is how much they trust them. Although one may think that’s unseemly, believe it or not there is another entity banks hold at an even lower tier. Other banks.
One of the known facts people remember about the melt down in 2008 (as opposed to general public) was when the banks no longer trusted each other, and what they earlier claimed was “collateral” wasn’t actually worth what it was stated to be. (more…)
A Financial Stock Worth Shorting
