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.

President Trump: Not A Proven Win-Win International Political Deal Maker

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A NO-WIN FOREIGN POLICY

It’s clear that President Trump’s “America First” policy does not produce a “win-win” outcome for it and other world trading partners…at least, it has not been proven, yet.

So far, he’s only been successful in tearing up prior agreements related to the Trans Pacific Partnership, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iran JCPOA, and has threatened to tear up the NAFTA with Canada and Mexico.

Although he is in current trade talks with China, he has not been successful in negotiating a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, nor has he been successful in negotiating any other bi-lateral or multi-lateral agreement that I’m aware of, including a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

In fact, he has exacerbated tensions in current NAFTA negotiations by slapping hefty and punitive steel and aluminum tariffs on these two closest trading allies, as well as on the European Union…under the guise of “national security” concerns. (more…)

Political Headwinds Await US Markets

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As economic benefits of last year’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act begin to filter into the US economy, the S&P 500 Index appears to be headed towards a retest of its all-time high of 2872.87 set in January of this year, as shown on the monthly chart below. This record high was accompanied by an all-time momentum (MOM) high, as well…hinting of further strength ahead at some point on this timeframe.

It has broken above what was near-term resistance of 2680 (as I described in my post of May 4).

Watch for a break and hold above its next major resistance level (top of long-term uptrending channel) at 2750. Otherwise, a break and hold below 2680 could see price retest its next support level of 2620, or lower.

(more…)

California Wingnuts

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About a week ago, tens of millions of thick printed election information guides were mailed to every household in California, including mine. I have no idea what it costs the state to create this thing, but I suspect something approaching a hundred million dollars. The purpose of these things is, ostensibly, for people to carefully study the propositions on the June ballot as well as the candidates for the various government posts (Federal Senator, California Governor, Treasurer, and so forth).

California is a famously progressive state, but thumbing through this book, I am always struck by some of the – – shall we say – – more fringe candidate that somehow have made their way into this publicly-funded publication. Here are a few………..

We begin with Jerry Laws, whose entire platform and campaign for the Senate can be expressed in merely a single word: (more…)

Tit for Tat

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During yesterday morning’s pointless run-up in valuations, I remarked how I wasn’t concerned, because the broader trend was with the bears. Likewise, with this morning’s smack-down, I’m not dancing on the table with glee, because it’s just another knee-jerk response to what now seems like a daly tit-for-tat response between China and the U.S. As I keep saying, it’s all about February 9’s lows. We need to break them and close beneath them to get cookin’.

saws (more…)