5 Technical Setups in Commodity Stocks

The following commentary comes from an independent investor or market observer as part of TheStreet's guest contributor program, which is separate from the company's news coverage.

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- All it took was one positive day for the S&P 500, and already the tone on Wall Street is turning bullish...

Speculation is swarming this morning that Facebook could file to go public in an IPO before the end of the year that would value the total company at $100 billion. That would make Facebook the biggest tech IPO in history. As a rule, firms opt to go public when equity markets look strong (to do otherwise would be to leave money on the table), so this news is telling us where investors' minds are as we start this week.

But clearly, the case for stocks has been a whole lot less bullish than Monday's 2.92% climb in the S&P 500 would have you believe. From a technical perspective, stocks are showing considerable weakness right now, cracking below key support at 1225 last week -- and then moving another 5.5% lower by Friday's close. But while stocks aren't showing much strength in this market, the commodity names are looking a lot better.

As a diversifying force, commodity-driven stocks offer protection against the dollar as well as lower correlations with the broad market. At a time when most stocks are showing weakness, those low correlations are crucial. That's why we're taking a look at the technical trading setups in five commodity stocks this week.

Also see: 7 Relative Strength Trades to Beat the Market in 2012

For the unfamiliar, technical analysis is a way for investors to quantify qualitative factors, such as investor psychology, based on a stock's price action and trends. Once the domain of cloistered trading teams on Wall Street, technicals can help top traders make consistently profitable trades and can aid fundamental investors in better planning their stock execution.

Without further ado, here's a look at five commodity-driven technical setups that could deliver breakout gains to your portfolio this week.

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