US equity markets stable in the July 19-23 trading week

U.S. equities were looking a little rosier during the July 19-23 trading week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 326.73 points or 3.24% to close at 10,424.62, while the S&P 500 index advanced 37.78 points or 3.55% to finish at 1,102.66. The Nasdaq Composite rose 90.42 points or 4.15% to 2,269.47. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index added 6.03 points or 3.6% to finish at 173.42. The price of gold edged down slightly from its open in New York on July 19 at US$1,193 per oz. to its close on July 23 at US$1,189.70 per oz.

Strong second-quarter and half-year results sent Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold‘ s shares soaring US$11 to US$71.08 per share, and making it the second most actively traded stock of the week. Net income in the second quarter reached US$649 million, or US$1.40 per share, up from US$588 million, or US$1.38 per share, in the second quarter of 2009. Net income for the first six months was US$1.5 billion, US$3.40 per share, compared with US$631 million, US$1.54 per share, for the first six months of 2009.

News that Kinross Gold was selling its 9% stake in the Diavik diamond mine to Harry Winston Diamond for US$220 million sent Harry Winston shares down US$1.04 at US$12.58. Harry Winston will pay Kinross US$50 million in cash, 7.1 million in shares valued at US$100 million, and a US$70 million note). Kinross also announced that it was selling 15.2 million Harry Winston shares through a block trade to a group of financial institutions.

Cliffs Natural Resources gained US$9.35 to US$55.90 per share. On July 19 the company announced it had increased its ownership stake in Spider Resources to about 81.8%, up from 52.1%. Cliffs has extended its offer of $0.19 per Spider share until July 26. The junior’s main asset is a 26.5% interest in the Big Daddy chromite project in the McFaulds Lake area of northern Ontario. Cliffs now has effective control of 73.5% of Big Daddy, (Cliffs’ directly held 47% interest and Spider’s 26.5% interest).

The end of a 12-month strike at Vale‘s nickel operations in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, drove up the company’s shares US$3.38 to finish at US$27.72 apiece. Unionized employees voted in favour of a five-year collective agreement, which included wage increases, switching from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution pension plan for new hires, and a new structured bonus tied to the price of nickel.