Friday, May 20, 2011

Miners (FCX) (RIO) (VALE) (TCK) Trade Mixed

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), Vale (NYSE:VALE) and Teck Resources (NYSE:TCK) traded mixed on Thursday as commodity prices were pressured down.

Gold for June delivery closed down $3.40, or 0.2 percent, at $1,492.40 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The ICE Futures' dollar index was down 0.5 percent at 75.106. The U.S. dollar was down against most of its major peers at the end of trading Thursday.

Silver prices ended the session down. July delivery for silver fell 16.5 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $34.932 a troy ounce.

Extremely bad news on Obama's economy pressured the commodity sector.

July contracts had copper falling 5.25 cents to settle at $4.0525 a pound and platinum dropped $10.90 to $1,769 an ounce. June palladium settled down $9.05 at $728.15 an ounce.

Questions as to the sustainability of iron ore prices over the long term are a question for the diversified miners, although in the short term that won't be an issue. That comes from expectations China's demand for steel will slow down and more iron ore coming into the market.

Housing sales and manufacturing data revealed an ongoing weak and fragile American economy.

Rio Tinto closed Thursday at $67.41, dropping $0.81, or 1.19 percent. Vale ended the session at $30.45, gaining $0.13, or 0.43 percent. Teck Resources closed at $49.96, falling $0.24, or 0.48 percent. Freeport-McMoRan closed at $47.97, down $0.65, or 1.34 percent.

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