U.S. markets, June 17-21

U.S. equities were hammered following comments mid-week from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank would scale back its quantitative easing program later this year. At a press conference Bernanke said he expects asset purchases would be trimmed in the second half of this year and likely come to an end in mid-2014. 

The New York spot price of gold plunged nearly US$73.50 on June 20 to US$1,277.80 per oz. For the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 270.78 points, or 1.8%, to 14,799.40. The S&P 500 Index dropped 34.3 points, or 2.1%, to 1,592.43; and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 66.31 points, or 1.9%, to 3,357.25. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index fell 11.15 points, or 12.2%, to end the week at 102.56.

Goldcorp shares dropped US$3.10 to US$24.59, while those of Barrick Gold and Kinross Gold shed US$2.61 to US$16.89 and US79¢ to US$5.03. On June 20 Goldcorp announced that it had filed a claim in the First District Court of Zacatecas, Mexico, that resulted in a temporary suspension of an agrarian court ruling. This purports to nullify the company’s lease of about 6 sq. km of surface land within its Penasquito mine site and orders the land be returned to the Cerro Gordo ejido. Goldcorp says a hearing for a permanent suspension of the court ruling will be held on June 27. Penasquito is the largest gold producer in Mexico.

Cabot Corp.’s announcement that it would acquire the remaining 60% of its carbon black manufacturing joint venture in Mexico for US$105 million pushed its shares up US41¢ to US$37.80. The Nhumo joint venture is the leading producer of carbon black in Mexico and churns out about 140,000 tonnes per year. Cabot estimates that operational synergies alone from the transaction could contribute US5¢ to US10¢ earnings per share within the next two to three years. Cabot has owned 40% of the joint venture since 1990 and is the leading producer and marketer of carbon black in the world. In fiscal 2012 the Mexican joint venture generated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of US$41 million.

U.S. most active issues

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		Volume
Company	Symbol	(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Alcoa*	AA	125692	8.22	7.97	7.98	–	0.14
Freeport McMo*	FCX	99284	29.97	27.52	28.16	–	1.41
Barrick Gold*	ABX	98876	19.73	16.16	16.89	–	2.61
Kinross Gold*	KGC	81183	6.04	4.86	5.03	–	0.79
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	63429	6.09	5.36	5.49	–	0.51
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	59943	19	16.88	17.19	–	0.55
Hecla Mining*	HL	56364	3.41	2.9	2.93	–	0.48
Arch Coal*	ACI	55015	4.34	3.89	3.91	–	0.33
Newmont Mng*	NEM	49343	33.63	28.85	30.05	–	3.14
Goldcorp*	GG	44242	28	23.47	24.59	–	3.1

U.S. greatest percentage change

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		Volume
Company	Symbol	(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
US Energy*	USEG	1015	2.23	1.89	2.17	+	13.6
Ur-Energy*	URG	459	1.22	1.06	1.15	+	7.4
Walter Energy*	WLT	11708	13.92	11.16	12.68	+	4.2
Mechel*	MTL	6511	3.24	2.6	2.91	+	2.4
Mines Managem*	MGN	68	0.73	0.65	0.69	+	2.2
General Moly*	GMO	1391	2.05	1.82	1.96	+	1.5
Cabot Corp*	CBT	2060	39.79	37.26	37.8	+	1.1
SinoCoking Cl*	SCOK	151	1.54	1.41	1.46	+	1
		0	0	0	0		0
		0	0	0	0		0
Lake Shore Gd*	LSG	2234	0.3	0.17	0.18	–	41.6
Intl Tower Hi*	THM	4545	0.81	0.51	0.51	–	36.2
Brigus Gold*	BRD	3226	0.62	0.41	0.41	–	33.7
Golden Star*	GSS	19555	0.55	0.4	0.4	–	26
Banro Res*	BAA	5348	1.12	0.73	0.78	–	25.7
Mag Silver*	MVG	111	7.55	5.58	5.8	–	23.5
Alexco Res*	AXU	2984	1.34	1.03	1.03	–	21.9
Almaden Mnls*	AAU	867	1.69	1.31	1.33	–	21.3
Vista Gold*	VGZ	4248	1.31	1.01	1.01	–	21
Avino Silver*	ASM	297	1.05	0.71	0.81	–	20.3

U.S. greatest value change

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Company	Symbol	Change	Close	Change
Walter Energy*	WLT	11708235	12.68	+	0.52
Cabot Corp*	CBT	2059872	37.8	+	0.41
US Energy*	USEG	1014726	2.17	+	0.26
Ur-Energy*	URG	458659	1.15	+	0.08
Mechel*	MTL	6510609	2.91	+	0.07
General Moly*	GMO	1390691	1.96	+	0.03
Mines Managem*	MGN	67515	0.69	+	0.02
SinoCoking Cl*	SCOK	150868	1.46	+	0.02
		0	0		0
		0	0		0
Randgold Res*	GOLD	5407033	66.71	–	8.63
Royal Gold*	RGLD	5733307	46.19	–	6.77
Franco-Nevada*	FNV	3006995	33.12	–	6.3
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	4996414	39.95	–	3.87
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	14760595	58.92	–	3.86
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	10581435	26.88	–	3.2
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	5235700	53.28	–	3.19
Newmont Mng*	NEM	49342509	30.05	–	3.14
Goldcorp*	GG	44241765	24.59	–	3.1
Agrium*	AGU	646396	86.01	–	2.79