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.

Death Metal

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In spite of the countless articles on ZeroHedge and innumerable appearances by the likes of Peter Schiff on television, all the good reasons to own precious metals for the past four years have been utterly urinated upon. I sold my silver a couple of months ago out of disgust, and boy, am I glad I did. I’m thinking of doing the same with all my gold bullion. This has to be the crappiest investment in human history. But, meh, I’ll probably hang on to it unless it breaks the channel I’ve illustrated below. Suffice it to say that precious metals continue to suck out loud, and if gold breaks $1000 (which some here declared would be impossible), you can expect the psychological damage to simply accelerate the dumpage.

1217-GLD

Gold Sector Inputs That Actually Matter

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The word play in the title is in reference to the ridiculous fuss over COMEX gold inventory and other promotions masquerading as fundamentals put out by cartoons masquerading as analysis.

30 year divided by, and 30 year minus 5 year are neutral at best. Yield spreads would be rising in a gold-positive environment. As a side note, this spread also tends to bring trouble for the stock market during its initial stages of rising.

30 year / 5 year yield spreads

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Stacking the Odds

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I’ll preface this by saying that, philosophically, I’m a fan of precious metals. I’d love to see them thrive and prosper. They are, as many have pointed out, the only real insurance against the insanity of central bankers.

However, metals have been in a bear market since September of 2011 (and how many assets can you say that about? Not many). I have made some posts lately suggesting that maybe – just maybe – they are starting to find firm ground. This morning, yet again, the floor has been knocked out from beneath gold, and it’s plunging to levels last seen in the depths of the financial crisis. This would be the equivalent of seeing a quote of 700 on the S&P 500. It’s a big deal.

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