USA Today, a newspaper favored by the illiterati of America with IQs solidly in the upper double-digits, did me a service today by publishing this on their front page………..right at the top: (more…)
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.
This Guarantees There Won’t Be a 19th
From the home page of MarketWatch – – not one, but two mentions of this ridiculous little factoid.
Tyler vs. the MSM
ZeroHedge is jammed to the gills with stories and commentary about what's going on in Cyprus. Here are the headlines from four consecutive stories:
It would seem that all the bears are itching for the Euro and e-mini markets to open so they can watch the blood start to flow. The whole Cyprus fiasco does seem like awfully big news.
But a glance at MarketWatch, where Ma 'n' Pa Kettle get all their market information, seems to yield a different picture of the world:
There's a huge article on the "10 Happiest States" (Jesus……..), and a car review, and an article about how Apple is at risk of ending its streak (Streak? What streak? Is AAPL some kind of big winner now that it stopped its plunge after losing a mere 40%?)
But if you look really, really closely, you'll see a tiny headline (I've courteously provided an arrow) that makes mention that depositers will be taxed for the bailout, which sounds like the most boring and innocuous story on the planet. The kind of story that no one would bother clicking, because who the hell is Cyprus, and is she related to Mila Kunis?
The Bland Leading the Blind
I am, more than ever, vox clamantis in deserto.
The Jim Cramers of the world are saying two things now: (a) buy, buy, buy; (b) we all know this is going to end badly, but you might as well make money now.
Part (a) they've said all along. After the market collapsed in 2008, and the Cramers of the world all looked like completely inept assholes, they realized they needed some insurance. So they added (b). This way, whether the market has topped out today, or it tops out three years from now, they can always jab their chubby little fingers at the past and say, "See? See? I told you this would end badly! I told you so!"
You can't have it both ways. You are either buying, selling, or on the sidelines. The Cramers and Roubinis and CNBCs and USA Todays of the world are saying "buy." And that is what they need to defend in the months and years to come. As for myself, chart after chart after chart tells me that anyone buying equities these days is utterly oblivious to history and, for the eight billionth instance, believes that this time it really is different.
House of Cards (by phantomcapital)
I'm going to save everyone the obvious joke about Netflix
releasing a show called House of Cards as their stock price defies gravity and
continues to float on a cloud of hopes, dreams, and Carl Icahn's influence. But seriously, how sweet an irony it would be
if a show titled House of Cards marks the top of Netflix? I'd have to rank it amongst one of the
funnier things to happen on Wall
St. in quite a while. I will make my argument for shorting NFLX on
several fronts; fundamental, technical, and "seriously, its trading at
what and I can short it?!?!" common sense.
