As to the mining sector, I think recovery may be underway. It's not obvious just yet, but I think that since the misery of the recent downtrend began, the worst hit portion of the market has been iron ore - off 74 percent in two years. But prices are up in recent days as the shutting of mines and lower overall production eat into supplies.

Maybe higher iron ore prices will help lift the rest of sector as iron is blended with many other metals to make a variety of industrial and consumer products.