The biggest news of the week was Alcoa‘s announcement it will cut production and staff at three smelters, in Rockdale, Tex., Massena, N.Y., and Ferndale, Wash.
After cutting 10,000 jobs in 2002, the company said in January it would shed another 8,000 workers this year, leaving it with 119,000. The layoffs are part of a massive restructuring caused by oversupply and flagging demand for aluminum in the aerospace and energy sectors. Over the period, the world’s no. 1 aluminum producer eased up 9 to US$22.68.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold slipped 47 to US$18.18 even as it posted first-quarter net income of US$49.2 million (or US33 a share) on revenue that soared 33% to US$524.6 million, thanks to stronger prices for its byproduct gold.
The rest of the sector was up: Anglo American gained 9 to finish at US$14.69; BHP Billiton rose 30 to US$11.86; Rio Tinto was up 32 to US$78.69; and Phelps Dodge advanced $1.55 to US$34.65.
The gold producers were mostly positive in advance of a flurry of earnings reports due in the coming weeks: Newmont Mining rocketed $1.36 to US$27.74; AngloGold jumped $1.11 to US$29.66; Gold Fields added 74 to reach US$10.73; Durban Deep slipped 10 to US$2.64; Harmony Gold rose 59 to close at US$12.50; Royal Gold soared another $1.25 to hit US$17.45; and Ashanti Goldfields was up 17 to US$5.33.
The silver stocks, however, were muted: Coeur d’Alene Mines rose 5 to US$1.34 as it struck a new, 3-year labour agreement with the United Steel Workers of America local 5114-03 at the Galena mine in Idaho; Hecla Mining advanced 20 to US$3.64; and Apex Silver Mines was off 4 to US$13.70.
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