This Overlooked Sector Is Just Starting To Break Out — Buy Now

As any wealth advisor will suggest, diversification can protect a portfolio from the ups and downs of a volatile market. But with both stocks and bonds trading at high levels and gold languishing, where can an investor turn?

The answer is food.

We all have to eat, and right now agricultural commodities such as livestock and grains look as if they have found respective bottoms.

There are many reasons, both technical and fundamental, why adding a small representation of commodities to a portfolio is a good idea.

#-ad_banner-#​From the fundamental side, wheat prices are reacting positively to the current Russia-Ukraine conflict. These countries are two of the world’s largest exporters of the grain, so supply concerns are front and center.

And Kansas City HRW wheat futures have found support at current levels that can be traced back to 2012, if not longer.

On the technical side, we’re seeing upside reversals in a number of charts.

The iPath DJ-UBS Livestock SubTR ETN (NYSE: COW) scored an upside reversal on Aug. 21, as both of its components — live cattle and lean hogs — ended their summer slides.

But for my money, I like the PowerShares DB Agriculture ETF (NYSE: DBA), which is a diverse basket of livestock, grains and soft commodities. The broader agriculture fund sports a solid chart with several technical positives, and I’m looking for a potential run back to its yearly highs.

DBA Chart

Officially, DBA is still in a downtrend from its April high. But with bullish divergence between its momentum indicators and price action, things look to be changing for the better. When an indicator such as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) makes higher lows as price action makes lower lows, the divergence is usually resolved by a reversal in price.

We can see the same divergence in the on-balance volume chart (not shown). On-balance volume is a running sum of volume on up days minus volume on down days, and when it is moving higher it suggests that bulls are more aggressive. We can surmise that demand is growing, and that supports rising prices.

While I already like this ETF here, many technically inclined traders are likely to jump on DBA on the upside crossing of its major moving averages. Both the 50-day and 200-day averages are a mere $0.20 above Thursday afternoon’s trading. Should DBA break out there, I would expect it to start to run faster as mechanical buy strategies kick in.

DBA traded near $35 in 2011, and its 2014 low is near $24, so its range has been wide over the past few years. From its current level, a move back to this year’s highs would not be hard to fathom.

Recommended Trade Setup:

— Buy DBA at the market price
— Set stop-loss at $25.50
— Set initial price target at $30 for a potential 14% gain in eight weeks

P.S.– Natural resources are as essential as food these days and we might currently be witnessing the biggest resource boom ever seen in North America. Dubbed the “next $1 Trillion Boomtown”, this region is oozing natural gas AND oil. One company saw its share price jump nearly 1,500% one month after releasing drilling results. But that’s just the beginning. These 3 stocks could be poised for similar gains in the coming years. Click here for more on these picks.

This article originally appeared on ProfitableTrading.com: Surprising Sector is Just Starting to Break Out — Buy Now!​