Choose Substance Over Style

On the periphery of the commodities' complex for most traders can usually be found the likes of steels and solars, even chemical plays. The flashy, enticing plays seem to be solars--After all, solar power has repeatedly been claimed as the energy of the future, cost-effective and green, while steels, chemicals, etc., are seen as old hat. 

However, the market has had a tough time being so agreeable with that line of thinking. 

Solar stocks have, simply put, been lemons given the comeback in crude oil and indeed most commodities in 2016. In fact, if there has been one sector we have repeatedly urged an indefinite "hands off" for Members, it has been solar. And that remains the case until further notice. TAN, the solar ETF, is not far from its February lows now, which displays the relative weakness even more. And FSLR, considered the best in class, has had a tough time holding bounces since shaving more than twenty-five points off its rally into March. 

So while style and flash are not working too well, the substance of old-fashioned steel is. 

AKS, for example, is bull-flagging tightly after its recent surge. We have profiled the likes of RS WOR, ZEUS, among stronger under-the-radar domestic steels. And AKS fits the bill, too, as does X.