From early 2009 to early 2013, for-profit education firms (the kind that you see advertise constantly on daytime television, such as ITT Technical Institute) were getting firebombed. It was one of the few sectors that was persistently weak during the roaring bull market. Weirdly, these stocks recovered mightily through 2013 and into the beginning of this year. Why, I’m not sure – – perhaps a naive notion that these firms could “retrain” workers for better jobs? Who knows. In any case, the bear market in this sector has returned with a vengeance.
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.
Small Caps in the Midst of Turbulence
The following Year-to-date percentage gained/lost graph of the Major Indices shows that the Small Cap Index (Russell 2000) has dropped by 5.22% since January 1st of this year…a significant variance from the others.
SPX vs Major Sectors: Stock Market Weakness Ahead?
The following 11 1-Year Daily charts show the 9 Major Sectors, plus Housing and Biotech.
You can see that Technology (XLK), Industrials (XLI), Materials (XLB), Energy (XLE), and Consumer Staples (XLP) have been the strongest performers, of late. The laggards have been Housing (XHB) and Biotech (IBB) (more…)
Biowrecknology
In spite of the big bounce over the past couple of weeks, biotech – it seems to your humble host – has shot its wad. I’ve tinted the zone I believe represents meaningful resistance. My bet is that the weakness has already started to reassert itself.
Social Rodeo Roundup
Social media stocks have, predictably, found strength lately. If you look at the ETF based on these stocks, it’s been painting a steady falling-down-the-stairs pattern for months now…….
