Eoin Treacy's view I've been thinking about the tyre (tire) sector for the last few days, having written about the rubber market on Tuesday. The car and truck tyre sector is highly competitive and many companies have suffered margin compression as a result of higher rubber and other input prices, which has hampered their stock market performance.

I was wondering whether this trend was also evident for companies producing tyres for the mining and agriculture sectors. I found this section from Comment of the Day on January 31st 2008 quoting an article from the Globe and Mail and concentrating on Barrick Gold's investment in Yokohama Rubber's facilities. At the time, supply of large tyres for mining equipment was thin and prices were soaring. However, Yokohama Rubber's chart pattern is relatively similar to other major manufacturers such as Bridgestone and continues to underperform.

Titan International, which manufactures tyres and wheels for the agricultural, mining and forestry industries collapsed from its 2008 peak to $5.35 by November 2008 and had been building a base below $10 until this week. It broke upwards on Monday and would need to sustain a move back below $10 for more than a few days to question further medium-term upside potential.