Market news: U.S. Markets

The S&P 500 Index rose for the seventh straight week with a small gain of 0.12% to 1,519.79. The last time the index enjoyed a seven-week run was between December 2010 and January 2011. The other indexes didn’t fare as well, however, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipping 0.08% to 13,981.76, and the Nasdaq Composite Index off 0.06% to 3,192.03. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index dropped 5.59% to 143.90.

After cutting its dividend, reporting a fourth-quarter loss and announcing plans to issue 9 million shares to raise funds to repay debt, shares of Cliffs Natural Resources plunged US$7.64, or 20.9%, to US$28.85. The company slashed its dividend to 15¢ per quarter, down 76% from 62.5¢. Cliffs reported a US$1.6-billion net loss in the fourth quarter, or US$11.36 per share, down from a profit of US$185 million, or US$1.30 per share in the same quarter last year.

News that Barrick Gold is taking a US$3.8-billion hit on its Lumwana copper mine in Zambia sent shares of the gold miner down US$1.09 to US$31.63. Barrick snapped up the property through its $7.3-billion acquisition of Equinox Minerals in 2011. A new life-of-mine model for the operation shows higher-than-expected operating and sustaining costs, which means lower-than-expected production and profitability.

Intrepid Potash shares fell US$2.59, or 11.1% to US$20.68, after the company reported net income in the fourth quarter of US$14.5 million, or US19¢ per diluted share, compared with US$24.9 million, or US33¢ per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2011.

On the positive side of the ledger, Alpha Natural Resources gained US$1.25 per share, or 15.1%, to close at US$9.48. The coal producer says that restructuring and cost-control measures have been working. Total costs and expenses during the fourth quarter of 2012 were US$1.6 billion, down from US$2.9 billion in 2011’s fourth quarter. Cost of coal sales in the quarter were US$0.9 billion, compared with US$1.6 billion in the year-ago period. The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of US$128 million, or US58¢ per diluted share, compared with a net loss of US$793 million, or US$3.62 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2011.

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