Surviving the Fall

After an energetic open to the upside, stocks are mostly drifting sideways-to-slighty-down into the daly afternoon portion of the session. Even though trimming partial profits on longs makes sense, it remains difficult to step in front of this market on the short side, especially with the FOMC coming up later this week. 

Turning to the steel sector, the space has been mixed for a while now. The domestic steels which garner plenty of attention like AKS and X have been remarkably soft in recent months, as has RS and NUE STLD. 

At best, those names are looking to put in base bottoms, none of which have yet to be confirmed. 

However, it is worth noting two domestic steels which have defied sector pressures. 

SCHN, based on Portland, Oregon, remains as attractive as any, seen on the first daily chart, below. And Worthington, out of Ohio, sports a similarly strong chart, second below on the daily.

Even though the SLX, sector ETF for steels, has masked the weakness of AKS NUE RS STLD X, I suspect SCHN WOR are waiting for the laggards to firm up before they rocket higher. 

More in my Midday Video for Members.