Steel Prices Due To Remain Strong

Goldman Sachs put out a note this week saying that steel prices are set to remain strong in 2008, despite recession. Market tightness has persisted which means that higher pricing may be sustainable through this economic downturn. The Market Vectors Steel ETF (AMEX: SLX) is up over 60% in the past year. GS advocated for Nucor (NYSE: NUE) as their favorite based on value.

Here is a list of the top 5 components of SLX:

Company                           % in SLX         1-yr return

Rio Tinto PLC (RTP)             14.75             77.93%

Cia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO) 14.53             100.95%

Arcelor Mittal (MT)               14.39             55.20%

POSCO (PKX)                      6.45               68.48%

Gerdau S.A. (GGB)              4.63               79.54%

Take a look at the Google Finance comparison chart.