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.

Political Puts

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I’ll begin by stating that the following post does not violate my self-imposed sanction against political snark on my part. This is a neutral and objective piece, intended to offer thoughts about how the forthcoming election will affect the market. You will be delighted to know it is certified snark-free.

I will begin with what I believe are a few fundamental truths about the relationship of politics and equities:

  • No office holder wants to see the stock market go down – – ever – – because 99.999% of the public wants stocks to go up – – forever – – and a bear market makes people grumpy.
  • To varying degrees, politicians have some control over propping up the stock market, but they are not omnipotent. George Bush wasn’t cheering on the wipeouts of 2001-2002 and 2008-2009, but they happened anyway, which led to the surprising Obama victory.
  • I cannot think of any politician in history, however, who has been more dependent on the stock market staying high than the current occupant of the White House.
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A Million Little Peaces

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The pattern is now obvious and irrefutable: an hour after the market closes on Friday, war breaks out again, and all weekend the bears get excited about what an awesome week is coming up. Then, just before the futures open on Sunday, they Ctrl-Z the entire situation.

Indeed, early on Sunday, this tweet came out:

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