U.S. equities stronger, Aug. 22-26

U.S. stocks posted their first positive trading week in more than a month with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 4.32% or 466.89 points to close at 11,284.54 and the S&P 500 index adding 53.27 points or 4.74% to finish at 1,174.80. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that the central bank has “a range of tools that could be used to provide additional monetary stimulus” but put off any decisions about further monetary measures until its annual meeting in September. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index climbed 2.61% or 5.5 points to close the Aug. 22-26 trading week at 215.94.

Cliffs Natural Resources topped the charts, surging US$8.96 to US$76.60 on no news. On Aug. 15 the iron ore and coal producer announced that its board of directors had approved the repurchase of as many as 4 million of its outstanding common shares. Given the recent volatility in equity markets the company said its repurchase plan would allow it to “opportunistically acquire shares at attractive valuations.”  

Potash was a sweet spot during the trading week with Agrium, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Mosaic all rising significantly on no news. Agrium jumped US$6.78 to US$83.42, while Potash Corp. advanced US$6.37 to US$57.02 and Mosaic added US$6.36 to US$69.38.

Shares of Li3 Energy surged 50% to 15¢ apiece on news that it had signed a strategic partnership for lithium exploration with one of the world’s largest steel manufacturers. The junior’s partnership with Posco Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary of the South Korean steel giant, includes up to $18 million for exploration and development at its flagship Maricunga project, a lithium brine deposit in northern Chile.

Banro Corporation advanced 20.1% to US$4.78 per share-still basking in its Aug. 15 news release that gold production at the company’s first mine on the Twangiza/Namoya gold belt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is on schedule for the fourth quarter of this year and that its phase 1 gold mine plant has entered cold commissioning (a test run of fluids through the ore processing plant). Hot commissioning (a test run of low-grade ore material through the plant) is expected by mid-September. Twangiza will be the first new commercial gold mine in the country in more than half a century, Banro says. The board approved mine construction in the summer of 2009.