No Steely Nerves:
The materials sector can tell us plenty about an upcoming slowdown. And some stocks to me are forecasting that. One look at an IP that is lower by 36% from most recent 52-week highs speaks loudly. For those that love value traps, and paper cuts (pun intended) it pays almost a 6% dividend yield. Other packaging plays like SEE are slipping below a bear flag and can not make up any losses from the 11% drop the week ending 5/5. We have highlighted copper woes, and gold seems to be slipping a bit too. Not many are talking much about steel names, that are acting anything but steely. Stocks like NUE, that is now 25% from its annual peak from a double top near the rough round 180 number, which was a double top from last April. VALE is sporting a bear flag and last week displayed weak relative strength down 1% as the EWZ jumped almost 4%. Below is the chart of X which has been cut by one-third since the early March peak. At the expense of sounding like a broken record, it too has carved out a bear flag. Perhaps all these flags flying are a bit too obvious but this is an area that I personally want nothing to do with.