U.S. MARKETS -August 16-20

New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed to a nine-month high during the Aug. 16-20 trading week, fuelling uncertainty about the overall economic outlook and sending gold prices higher. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.87% or 89.53 points to finish at 10,213.62, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.70% or 7.56 points to close at 1,071.69. Spot gold prices rose 1% during the period, closing in New York on Aug. 20 at US$1,228 per oz. after reaching a high of US$1,237.15 per oz. on Aug. 19, the highest price since July 1. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index gained 3.3% or 5.73 points to finish at 178.13.

BHP Billiton’s surprise US$39-billion (US$130-per-share) all-cash bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and speculation that other suitors will start coming out of the woodwork, dominated the headlines and pushed up the company’s shares by US$38.33 or 34.4% to US$149.67 apiece.

Potash Corp.’s board is urging shareholders to reject BHP’s bid and said it was in talks with several other companies for a more attractive offer. Of those, Bloomberg News has reported that China’s Sinochem Group and Brazil’s Vale have made initial inquiries. The buzz about Potash Corp. sent prices of other potash producers up too, including Mosaic, which advanced US$5.44 to US$56.64 per share (the second-biggest value gainer). Mosaic was the third most active stock.

Randgold Resources posted the third-largest value gain of the week, adding US$4.75 to reach US$90.63 apiece. Earlier this month, the African-focused company reported a profit increase of 52% for the quarter ended June 30 over the previous quarter, and a 92% increase over the year-ago quarter. Its profits for the six months were up 88% year-on-year. Randgold raised its production guidance at the Tongon gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire by about 10%, because commissioning of the plant is ahead of schedule. It also said it hopes to bring forward by six months to mid-2011 the start of building its Kibali gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On the negative side of the ledger were BHP Billiton, down US$3.84 to US$67.44 per share, and SinoCoking Coal, which posted the largest drop of the week, with a decline of US$4.35 per share to US$12.33.

U.S. most active issues
VOLUME WEEK
(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE
Potash C Sask* POT 105354 149.87 110.57 149.67 + 38.33
Alcoa* AA 99928 11.07 10.45 10.57 -0.07
Mosaic* MOS 49583 58.46 50.81 56.64 + 5.44
Freeport McMo* FCX 42660 74.30 70.26 71.37 + 1.30
Barrick Gold* ABX 30312 45.75 43.20 44.78 + 1.86
Kinross Gold* KGC 26599 15.86 14.86 15.48 + 0.32
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF 25973 65.00 58.30 61.28 + 2.79
Newmont Mng* NEM 24149 60.23 57.02 58.02 + 1.30
Goldcorp* GG 23901 43.04 39.91 41.89 + 2.25
Hecla Mining* HL 22671 5.21 4.88 4.95 + 0.11
U.S. greatest percentage change
VOLUME WEEK
(000s) HIGH LOW CLOSE CHANGE
Potash C Sask* POT 105354 149.87 110.57 149.67 + 34.4
Vista Gold* VGZ 5261 2.00 1.50 1.95 + 32.6
Legend Intl H* LGDI 1220 0.77 0.60 0.76 + 26.6
Am Engy Field* AEFI 117 0.64 0.48 0.62 + 24.0
DouglasLkMl* DLKM 355 0.13 0.10 0.12 + 20.0
Quaterra Res* QMM 208 1.54 1.24 1.46 + 18.7
Uranium Res* URRE 1738 0.62 0.50 0.58 + 18.3
Radius Gold* RDUFF 25 0.40 0.34 0.40 + 17.6
Fronteer Gold* FRG 4599 7.56 6.26 7.37 + 16.4
New Jersey Mg* NJMC 31 0.23 0.19 0.23 + 15.0
Apolo Gold* APLL 208 0.02 0.01 0.01 -50.0
Affinity Gold* AFYG 994 0.19 0.05 0.11 -35.2
Elray Res* ELRA 3179 0.06 0.04 0.04 -33.3
SinoCoking Cl* SCOK 946 16.99 10.01 12.33 -26.0
Li3 Energy* LIEG 625 0.38 0.26 0.28 -24.3
America West* AWSR 224 0.10 0.06 0.07 -22.2
Lake Vict Mng* LVCA 281 0.30 0.24 0.26 -16.1
Pac Rim Minin* PMU 1540 0.21 0.16 0.17 -15.0
Cream Mnrls* CRMXF 91 0.09 0.06 0.06 -14.2
Pediment Gold* PEZGF 70 1.24 1.10 1.10 -12.0
U.S. greatest value change
WEEK
VOLUME CLOSE CHANGE
Potash C Sask* POT 105354208 149.67 + 38.33
Mosaic* MOS 49583373 56.64 + 5.44
Randgold Res* GOLD 2586896 90.63 + 4.75
Soc Quim&M Ch* SQM 4145476 43.12 + 3.69
AllianceRsP* ARLP 500939 53.50 + 3.25
Royal Gold* RGLD 2639799 48.89 + 3.09
Seabridge Gld* SA 2194319 28.36 + 3.06
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF 25972885 61.28 + 2.79
Allied Nevada* ANV 783235 22.00 + 2.51
Goldcorp* GG 23901203 41.89 + 2.25
SinoCoking Cl* SCOK 945776 12.33 -4.35
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL 10935433 56.65 -3.89
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP 22234490 67.44 -3.84
Consol Energy* CNX 17914533 34.11 -2.21
Puda Coal* PUDA 152240 8.34 -0.93
Harmony Gold* HMY 13138462 10.06 -0.83
Peabody Enrgy* BTU 16004461 44.92 -0.71
MDU Res* MDU 2484315 18.41 -0.60
Westmoreland* WLB 69523 9.42 -0.35
US Energy* USEG 729859 4.29 -0.31
Print

 

Republish this article

Be the first to comment on "U.S. MARKETS -August 16-20"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. To learn more, click more information

Dear user, please be aware that we use cookies to help users navigate our website content and to help us understand how we can improve the user experience. If you have ideas for how we can improve our services, we’d love to hear from you. Click here to email us. By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. Please see our Privacy & Cookie Usage Policy to learn more.

Close