Jim Van Meerten's  Instablog

 If the economy is to recover steel is not an optional industry -- it's an essential industry right in the core of the auto, infrastructure and manufacturing industries.  It's hard to think of an industry that does not use steel or metal products somewhere.  Luckily, this industry has shown signs of recovery.  Just look at the chart of the steel industry index price change vs, the 20, 50 and 100 day moving averages and Trend Spotter (tm) in the last 2 1/2 months:

• 96% Barchart.com technical buy signal
• Trend Spotter (tm) buy signal
• 6 new highs and up 21.95% in the last month
• Relative Strength Index 71.21% and rising
• Trades around 67.64 with a 50 day moving average of 57.63
• Wall Street brokerages have published 7 buy and 2 hold recommendation
• Sales are projected to increase 17.50% this year and 8.40% next year
• Earnings are estimated to increase by 269.50% this year, 40.60% next year and continue at 20.00% annually for the next 5 years
• Investor sentiment is very high with the CAPS members on Motley Foll voting 1064 to 61 that the stock will beat the market with the All Stars in agreement 389 to 10

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.