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.

Silver is in a Bear Flag

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Seeking Alpha has only 3 entries under the ‘Gold & Precious Metals’ section of its most recent ‘Macro View’ email notice:

  1. Silver: Another Decade of 500% Returns is Possible
  2. Silver: Are We Ready Yet for the Rally to $60+?
  3. Silver is Set to Explode in 2013

To be fair, the second article highlights lower near-term targets
prior to a rally to $60+ and this brings me to my point; silver is in a
bear flag.  I too am bullish on Ag and Au in 2013, but the charts are
the charts and silver’s daily chart targets 27-28 first, which we have
been noting in the newsletter despite a recent change to a bullish risk vs. reward stance on the precious metals complex.

silver

Bullish risk vs. reward (meaning gold and silver have notably more
upside potential than downside risk) is one thing and short-term
technicals are another.  The short-term technicals say to be ready for a
lame rise to the noted resistance level (31 had been important support
before its failure) and the potential for a renewed decline to strong
support in the 27 to 28 range.

I am sure the above noted articles are not the only three out there. 
When the silver bugs are beating the drum loudly and the technicals are
not yet in line, it always pays to be cautious in the near term.

On the bigger picture using the weekly chart for example, silver’s
technicals look fine.  But that should include the potential for a drop
to the mid-high 20′s because despite a bullish macro fundamental view
and even longer-term technical view, the recent correction is not yet
indicated to be over.

What might we look for?  A final, dispiriting decline with sentiment
bottomed out and the CoT (Commitments of Traders data) going to a full
bullish structure (it is moving in the right direction) and some
positive technical divergence (like that noted on the chart above from
last summer) would be an excellent setup.

And if I am being too bearish on the short-term, we’ll know soon
enough with a sustained rise above the noted resistance area at 31,
which also includes the 200 day simple moving average (solid red line).

Just a word of caution and perspective from your friends at biiwii.com ;-)

Q: What’s Wrong With Gold?!?!

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A:  Nothing.  It’s what’s wrong with peoples’ expectations and perceptions that is the problem.

Once again I’ll quote NFTRH 208 from October 14 (that edition and a sample interim update can be reviewed here:  Samples), not to be an ‘I told you so’
wise guy (I didn’t definitively tell anybody anything), but rather to
highlight how important sentiment is to this sector and also I suppose
to toot the horn a little with respect to good risk management.

Sentiment is over bullish in the precious metals
Public opinion is over bullish, Hulbert’s HGNSI is over bullish and the
CoT data show that the little and big speculators are over bullish. 
This should be cleared out before we renew our bullish enthusiasm on a
risk vs. reward basis.  Broad stock sentiment is in a better state than
in the precious metals.  It is mostly neutral.”

The over bullish sentiment in the precious metals has been ground
down to a current state of numbness at best, and full out despair at
worst.  Actually, it is the reverse; a state of despair is best for a
contrarian opportunist.

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Money Supply, Money Supply, Money Supply

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Did I mention money supply?

adjbase

Inflation is the act of inflating money supply.  The cost effects
will show up later, somewhere or everywhere, eventually.  The FOMC just
acknowledged the ending of the sanitary half of Operation Twist, while
keeping the other half – the inflationary half – intact and ongoing. 
Inflation is a little below their objectives after all… ha ha ha.

See the beautiful consolidation of the graph above.  That is called a
bullish consolidation.  With T bonds indicating a deflationary
backdrop… ha ha ha… there is no longer any public outcry against the
inflators.  Where are the angry mobs of austerity now?  Blabbing about
the Fiscal Cliff is where they are.

‘How you like me now??’ Ben has said to the gold bugs for nearly 1.5
years now.  Well, he just became passive toward the gold bugs once
again.  Gold has been in a pretty consolidation as have the Twisted
Yield curve and that graph above for 1.5 years.

Yesterday's announcement – pending the completion of the final Twist remnants – clears the way for the consolidation to break.

Party on Garth.  Deflationists not invited. http://www.biiwii.com

Pre-FOMC Money Supply Discussion

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With our dear monetary leaders only two days away from bestowing upon
us their latest financial wizardry, we should be aware of the money
supply dynamics in play.  This week FOMC will either ramp the production
of printed money, hang back and play coy while letting the existing $40
billion in MBS carry the load or heaven forbid, talk in some sort of
austere manner in a bizarre game of brinksmanship.

Money Supply Discussion From NFTRH 215:

Moving on, here is how one money supply indicator got it wrong…

m2

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