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.
Let’s take an in-day snapshot of gold vs. several key competitors (for your investment dollars/euros/yen, etc.) and check the progress in turning the macro from risk ‘on’ to risk ‘off’, cyclical to counter-cyclical.
Gold/Commodities motors along above the SMA 200. The move has been hysterical, and thus looks impulsive. That could mean something as we look back in hindsight one day.
I have sad news to share with everyone. Our beloved brother-in-arms, Bruno de Landevoisin, has passed to the eternal realm. For those of you who don’t know to whom I’m referring, Bruno was a very long-time member of the Slope community, writing more posts here than anyone except myself, and doing so with a fastidious attention to detail. He went by many names – – Idiot Wind, BDI (which meant “Bob Dylan Idiot”, since he was a huge fan) – -but we all knew him as the loveable Frenchman, descended from royalty, who was a tireless and lovingly combative member of this community
Time for an anecdote. Because some days deserve it. This one certainly does.
And by “day”, I don’t mean “Sunday” or “Monday.” I really mean the period between Sunday afternoon and Monday afternoon. That 24 hour block. Because there was a lot compressed into it.
To set the scene: I had spent the last several days in Kansas City, Missouri. As with virtually all my destinations, it was not particularly by choice, although the city does have a few charms of its own. During my time there, at which I was accompanied by my family, the firestorms in California were all over the news. The entire state was shrouded by a thick layer of unhealthy smoke.
One of my beloved children and I were slated to head back early, on Sunday evening, abandoning the rest of the family. My wife insisted that the aforementioned child stay away from the smoke, and she strongly encouraged, almost to the point of insistence, that I remain as well. However, I really wanted to get back home, smoke be damned. I wanted to get back to my computers, my screens, my dogs, and my super-high speed Internet. I would see the family soon enough. (more…)
I’m traveling now (you can guess why), and as often happens during these trips, I encountered a bit of a nuisance that merits a post. Frankly, after yesterday’s post, I’m sort of out of big ideas, so why not an anecdote!
For decades now, I’ve had a book on my shelf called The Psychology of Everyday Things. (they renamed it the Design of Everyday Things to makes its content more obvious, but frankly, I prefer the original title, particularly since it makes the lyrical acronym of POET). The book describes at length good and bad design in everyday objects, such as doorknobs, signs, switches, and so forth. It’s a light, fascinating read which tunes you in to the surrounding world better.
I was reminded of it soon after I got our rental car here. I got a minivan, not because of its sex appeal, but because we have a lot of humans and gear to deal with. It was an extremely new 2019 Dodge Caravan. In fact, it had 3 miles on it, so I was its first occupant. I figured it would have all kinds of new, spiffy features. But I wasn’t after anything new or spiffy. I just needed to plug my phone in for a charge, since it was just about dead and I needed to navigate. (more…)
In the middle of last month, I offered up the post Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in an effort to lay out what I thought were some possible paths for the market. Out of an infinity of possibilities, I described four possible pathways, and the most bearish of them all, “Delta“, unfolded beautifully. Here was the prediction at the time.
