Lanthanoid Breakdown

Monday, I wrote in my column that the break in copper was not a good thing for stocks. Of course, the edited headline was a more radical Copper Slump Points to Stock Sell-Off. But direct correlation aside, the evidence of a slowing economy is growing by the day.

Remember this hot stock of yesteryear? It is a rare earth minerals miner and it was thought to be critical to the future economy. China was hoarding rare earth minerals at the time, too.

So is it the Chinese slump that is responsible for this breakdown or is it something more sinister as lack of global demand? That is not my area but from the looks of this cyclical, industrial, economically sensitive basic materials stock, I think it is safe to say a few economic burners are not firing.