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.

It Is Accomplished

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Well, THAT was weird.

I come to you from my pitch-black home office (pretty much my favorite condition in the world) as I eagerly awaited the CPI to come out. It is, as of this typing on my keyboard, only a couple of minutes after the release.

At about 30 seconds before the release, I leaned in to my futures quotes and watched with intent interest. The following took place:

  1. The futures were all green throughout the night, in anticipation of some kind of “coiled spring” explosive move higher;
  2. About 10-15 seconds before the top of the hour, futures went ROARING higher, and I said (out loud, even though I was alone) “That’s not good.” I figured they must have accidentally released them a little early, and the number was obviously soft. The /ES was up about 48 points.
  3. Then it was up 35 points, then 16, and then it went negative. Then it went into a free-fall.
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CPI 2022

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Someone suggested I input the dates of the Consumer Price Index reports (like the one we’re going to get this upcoming Wednesday) into Event Markers, so I’ve done so below. It isn’t exactly eye-opening, since there doesn’t seem to be much correlation. All the same, I think Wednesday morning’s figure will be very closely watched, considering the mayhem it unleashed last time.

‘Anti’ Markets

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These daily charts are flipped over to a view that is ‘anti’ their normal selves

Whereas I have often referred to the improbably bullish (to many) US dollar as an anti-market, the liquidity collector from the global liquidity driven and speculative mess created by the Fed and its fellows, here is a look at some markets (ETFs & indexes) in their opposite or ‘anti’ suit. In other words, here are some charts flipped over. If the chart is bullish the underlying asset/market is not.

The major risk in my opinion is in the over-hyped inflation trades as inflation signals fade. That means commodities, mainly. But also Materials, Financials and other areas thought to be ‘reflation’ sensitive and highly cyclical.

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