U.S. equities survive Oct. 11-15 week

U.S. equity markets were largely unruffled during the Oct. 11-15 trading week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average advancing 56.3 points or 0.51% to finish at 11,062.78 and the S&P 500 index edging up 11.04 points or 0.95% to close at 1,176.19.

Twenty-one companies reached new 52-week share price highs: Agnico-Eagle Mines, Agrium, Alumina Inc., Anglo-Gold Ashanti, ASA (Bermuda) , Barrick Gold, BHP Billiton, Buenaventura, Cabot Corp., Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, Gold Fields, International Coal Group, Ivanhoe Mines, Mesabi Trust, Mosaic, Natural Resources PT, Peabody Energy, Silver Wheaton, Silvercorp Metals, Sociedad Quimica y Minerale de Chile, and Yanzhou Coal.

News on Oct. 15 that China’s state-owned chemical giant Sinochem will not launch a counterbid for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan seemed to drive up the share prices of both Agrium and Mosaic. The former topped the list of value gains rising US$5.97 to US$87.05 per share, while Mosaic took fourth-spot with an increase of US$2.78 to US$68.39. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan closed the week down US$0.79 at US$144.91.

Gold companies continued to prosper with the New York spot price for gold climbing from its New York close of US$1,353.90 per oz. on Oct. 11 to US$1,368.90 on Oct. 15, an advance of 1.12%. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index increased 1.24 points or 0.61% to 206.06. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold and Buenaventura claimed the second and third spots on the list of companies with the biggest dollar gains, on no news. Freeport jumped US$2.84 to US$98.05 and Buenaventura was not far behind with a gain of US$2.82 to US$51.14.

Barrick Gold, by contrast, lost US$0.58 per share to close at US$47.99. The Toronto-headquartered gold major announced that it had been as a “carbon disclosure leader” in an annual global survey by the Carbon Disclosure Project. Barrick was one of 14 Canadian companies identified from among 200 major TSX-listed companies as the “most prepared, involved and transparent in their initiatives to address climate change.” The Carbon Disclosure Project is a global climate change reporting system that asks companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate change strategies.

Yanzhou Coal, meanwhile, jumped US$1.68 to US$28.66 per share on estimates that its net profit for the first nine months of the year will jump by 100% year-on-year. In a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Chinese coal mining group estimated its net profits will go up due to a stronger Australian dollar.