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.

Big in Japan

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Fellow Slopers,

In a post earlier this week (“Shorting Japanese Hockey Stick”), our host noted how Japanese stocks have been going nuts since Abenomics was unleashed (quantitative easing about 4x as large as we’ve had in the US). In this post, we’ll talk a look at the current hedging costs of a handful of the iShares MSCI Japan Index ETF (EWJ) and a handful of US-traded Japanese stocks. First though, I thought I’d share a quick article about one of our host’s favorite companies, Tesla Motors (TSLA). (more…)

Hedging The Most Actively Traded ETFs

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Hedging The Most Actively-Traded ETFs

Fellow Slopers,

In this post we’ll look at the costs of hedging the most actively-traded ETFs, but first, a quick update on an old post.  A couple of years ago on Slope (“A Nano Cap Bargain“), I mentioned I had purchased a few shares of nano cap mobile phone accessory maker, Wireless Xccessories Group (WIRX). Shares of WIRX were up significantly this week, after the company announced sizeable revenue gains. As I noted in my post a couple of years ago, it’s a thinly-traded OTC stock, with all the risks that implies, so caution is warranted. Now onto the most actively-traded ETFs. (more…)

Some Potential Winners And Losers If The Senate Immigration Bill Becomes Law

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Gang Of Eight Disgorges Draft Immigration Bill

Early Wednesday morning, the so-called “Gang of Eight” — United States Senators Schumer, Flake, McCain, Menendez, Rubio, Graham, Bennett, and Durbin — released the text of their 844 page immigration bill. Among other provisions, the bill would give legal status and a pathway to citizenship to the estimated 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold hearings on this bill Friday. If the bill passes the Senate and then the House of Representatives, and is signed into law by President Obama, it may have far-reaching consequences for the US economy. In this post, we’ll look at the potential political and economic impact if this bill becomes law, and then we’ll look at how it could affect a few specific companies. (more…)

Gold Gets Hammered Again

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Fellow Slopers,

In our post on Saturday, we looked at how a hedge on GLD from last quarter reacted as the gold ETF tanked on Friday. This post includes an updated look at that hedge as of intraday Monday, as well as a couple of current ways GLD investors could hedge on Monday. Incidentally, for those who missed Saturday’s post, I recommend reading the comments there by Sloper extraordinaire Market Sniper and Tim Knight. (more…)

Hedging GLD, Before And After Its Recent Drop

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Gold Bugs Crushed

Hey fellow Slopers,

As Tim noted on Friday (“Kooks’ Last Stand”), the collapse in gold and its SPDR tracking ETF GLD has been shocking, particularly to those who figured QE Infinity would drive gold prices to new highs. Back in January, I posted a couple of GLD hedges. In this post, we’ll take a look at how one of them reacted as GLD dropped on Friday. Then we’ll look at a way to hedge GLD now. (more…)