U.S. Markets, March 11 – 15

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended a 10-day winning streak, but eked out a 0.81% gain to close at 14,514.11, while the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.61% to finish at 1,560.70. Data showing growth in U.S. manufacturing and retail sales was counterbalanced by a March 15 drop in JPMorgan Chase sales, a component of the Dow and S&P. The bank’s shares fell after the U.S. Federal Reserve ordered improvements on setting up capital payments to shareholders, and a Senate report claimed the bank had “ignored risks, misled investors, fought with regulators and tried to work around rules, as it deals with mushrooming issues in a derivatives portfolio,” Reuters reported. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index rose 0.86% to 134.46.

Some of the biggest value changes of the week were on the negative side of the ledger, among them Agrium, which dropped US$3.13 to US$102.75 per share. The fertilizer giant reported on March 15 that one of its shareholders, British Columbia Investment Management, would vote for Agrium’s candidates for the board, and not those recommended by Jana Partners, a New York-based hedge fund that launched a proxy fight for control of the company nine months ago.

Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources fell US$2.64 to US$22.09 after it announced that it would cut costs by idling its Wabush Point Noire iron-ore pellet plant in Quebec by the end of the second quarter, while Vale fell US$1.08 to US$17.55 per share due to a brewing battle the Brazilian company faces in Argentina. The government ordered Vale to retain at least 6,500 workers at its Rio Colorado fertilizer project after the company stopped operations because it did not receive the tax concessions it had requested.

Lower prices for rare earths and higher costs contributed to Molycorp’s fourth-quarter loss of US$359.6 million, or US$2.91 per share, which included a goodwill impairment charge of US$258.3 million related to its US$1.3-billion acquisition of rare-earth processor Neo Material Technologies. The company says it will cut jobs to trim costs, but declined to say how many workers would be affected. Molycorp ended the week down 30¢ at US$6.19 per share.

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