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.

Obsession With Central Bank Action is Unhealthy, But Typical

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The great question revolving around Greece is now answered.  It remained unanswered when the opening segment of NFTRH192 was written.  Here is how one writer was trying to deal with these and other questions over the weekend:

Obsession With Central Bank Action is Unhealthy, But Typical

“We’re seeing some positive sentiment return on account of a few things: the prospect of coordinated intervention in the event of a sloppy Greek election, or outright victory of an anti austerity party,” such as Syriza, said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. –MarketWatch

NFTRH has been managing what I believe could be a pivot to a coming intermediate bullish phase in the broad markets. For several weeks now my response to the Ticker Sense sentiment poll has been ‘Bullish’ http://is.gd/IX10GL. This has been largely due to markets’ [previous] proximity to important support, pervasively bearish sentiment, an over bought/over owned US dollar and the ‘Sitting Democrat’ election year cycle.

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A Byproduct of the Twist? Gold Manipulation

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As the world awaits the Greek election, there was news today right here in Wonderland:

Treasurys rise after record-setting auction

Our great nation is selling more bonds (AKA debt) this week to keep itself afloat. Guess what? Demand was strong for 10 year notes.

Next up, 30 year debt will be peddled on Thursday. With the Fed on the bid, either in action or in implied waiting, one might expect that to be another bumper day.

"On Tuesday, the government garnered weak demand at its sale of 3-year notes. That could have been due to expectations for more Twist from the Fed, which may entail selling that maturity. That logic would also have lent support for the 10-year auction, and presumably the long bond sale in the coming session."

The indisputable message of this chart is that gold generally goes in alignment with the 30 year/2 year yield spread.

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The Last Bear Just Locked the Bunker Door

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My wife forwarded this (A Terrifying Vision of the End Game) to me last week.  It has gone viral after all (which is the only reason a finance-o-phobe like my wife – and like most normal people outside of geeks like you and me – would have seen it).  It comes courtesy of Business Insider, which saw fit to pump the bear case at the exact moment that fear could not get any more palpable in US and global stocks markets.

Now Zero Hedge is apparently still hung up on it.  I generally like ZH and marvel at the shear volume of information that these guys churn out; but come on guys, enough already.  Raoul Paul (a hedge fund manager no less; oooohhhhh) thinks the system is going to end and a new one will rise from its ashes.  Wow, ya think?

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Tilting at Windmills (by Gary Tanashian)

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Excerpted from the June 3 edition of Notes From the Rabbit Hole, NFTRH190:

On June 20th the Federal Open Market Committee is going conclude a two-day meeting and release a summary of their view of the economy, most likely including an ‘unwelcome’ decline in inflation. That of course would signal a dreaded deflation, which are the windmill ‘giants’ to our Dear (monetary) Leader’s Don Quixote…

"What giants?" asked Sancho Panza.

"Those you see over there," replied his master, "with their long arms. Some of them have arms well nightwo leagues in length."

"Take care, sir," cried Sancho. "Those over there are not giants but windmills. Those things that seem to be their arms are sails which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone."

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