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.

The Grey

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I have been running a nonstop dinner party for almost 20 years, and I can never shake the idea that i have to entertain my guests. This is one of those very rare times when I honestly have nothing to say, and if I could bring myself to do it, I’d just say buh-bye until something happened next week. This market is as boring as hell. Honestly. I can usually write something or another to fill this space, but my God, this market has entered into some kind of dull equilibrium with NO volatility and NO atmospheric changes. Ever.

The VIX, battered down to the point of irrelevancy months ago.
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Four Star Signal

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If you want a contrarian signal, I’ve got one for you. This weekend, I wrote to every single one of Slope’s 4-Star generals – – – an elite group that is, by virtue of their active participation on the site, demonstrate their passion for Slope. Specifically, I wrote to those with free Sloper accounts, encouraging them to demonstrate their unabashed support for Slope not just with their 4-star-ness but also with a paid membership, giving them access to all our amazing goodies.

Want to know how many signed up? ZERO!

The fact I have to crawl around on my knees begging people to crack open their VERY, VERY TIGHT wallets is just another data point for me that people are convinced stocks will never, ever go down again. There will be a time in which I am drowning in subscriptions, and when that happens, I hope to have enough sense to get out of every bearish position I possibly can. Until then………..JESUS some of you are – – ummm – – thrifty. It’s honestly beyond belief. If we go out for a meal, I guess I’m picking up the check.

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Sentimental Journey

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This took a little time to put together but click the chart for a screen-filling version. I have overlaid the S&P 500 with the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey. As you can see, major market tops correlated with negative divergences in sentiment. What’s particularly intriguing about this chart is that the plunge in sentiment has been absolutely enormous lately, so I didn’t even bother drawing the insanely-downsloping red line that would be required.