Oil prices and a resurgent U.S. dollar are impacting a whole host of sectors, commodities chief among them. This has copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) and steel stock Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF) extending their recent losses today.
FCX is down 5.3% to trade at $56.19 this morning, on track for its third-straight loss of roughly 5% or more. The shares have taken a 19.6% haircut off their Feb. 25 all-time high of $69.75, though support is stepping up at their 80-day moving average.
CLF is 6% lower to trade at $9.24 at last glance, bringing its year-to-date deficit up to more than 31%. The shares are poised to close below $10 for the first time since August.
Options traders have been pursuing CLF puts lately. The equity's 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.01 over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits higher than all other annual readings.
One thing to monitor going forward amid today's carnage is that both FCX and CLF are near "oversold" territory, per their 14-Day Relative Strength Indexes (RSI) of 35 and 36, respectively.
