U.S. markets stronger, Mar. 21-25

U.S. equity markets posted stronger results in the Mar. 21-25 trading week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging up 3.05% or 362.07 points to finish at 12,220.59, and the S&P 500 index rising 2.71% or 34.60 points to 1,313.80. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index increased 5.10% or 10.36 points to 214.66, while the spot price of gold in New York ended the week at US$1,416.80 per oz., down from the start of the week by US$2.90 per oz. Eight companies on the New York Stock Exchange reached new 52-week highs while none fell to new 52-week lows.

The strong outlook for iron ore and steel production helped propel Cliffs Natural Resources to the top of the list of value gains, with a jump of US$6.46 per share to US$94.41. On Mar. 24, Reuters quoted the company’s chief financial officer, Laurie Brlas, as saying at the news agency’s Global Mining and Steel Summit, that Cliffs anticipates shipping roughly 31 million tonnes of iron ore a year to Asian markets within the next few years as demand continues to grow in China and in Japan.

Coal companies continued to add significantly to their share prices during the Mar. 21-25 trading week as uncertainty over Japan’s unfolding crisis at its Fukushima plant clouded the outlook for nuclear energy. Massey Energy rose US$6.10 to US$68.23 and Alpha Natural Resources climbed US$4.77 to US$60.05.

Silver’s surging bull market buoyed the shares of Coeur d’Alene, the largest U.S.-based primary silver producer and a growing gold producer. It shares gained US$3.10 per share to US$34.54 on no news. Silver Wheaton, meanwhile, added US$3.89 to close the trading week at US$43.80 per share on news that it had boosted attributable reserves more than 9% in 2010. It was the sixth year in a row that the silver streaming company increased its reserves, which reached a record 954 million silver-equivalent ounces at the end of last year. Attributable measured and indicated resources during the same period rose 1% to 377 million silver-equivalent ounces, while inferred resources jumped 22% to 497 million silver-equivalent ounces.

Finally, Rare Element Resources was up 18.9% to US$12.37 per share on no news. On Mar. 15 the company reported an inferred mineral resource estimate for its Sundance gold project in the Bear Lodge Mountains in northeastern Wyoming. Inferred resources tally 69.3 million tonnes averaging 0.42 gram gold per tonne using a 0.15 gram gold per tonne cut-off grade, for 947,000 ounces of contained gold in three deposits.