Stock Preacher

This is what happened last week…

Last Tuesday began what the world community views as a major event in US history, the inauguration of Barack H. Obama as its 44th President and its 1st Black American President.
Some of President Obama’s executive orders on his 1st day in office:

1. A freeze on salaries for White House staff earning $100,000 or more, about 100 people in all.

2. New Freedom of Information Act rules, making it harder to keep the workings of government secret.

3. Tighter ethics rules governing when administration officials can work on issues on which they previously lobbied governmental agencies, and banning them from lobbying the Obama administration after leaving government service.

The week in the markets, however, continued to be bathed in the glow of uncertainty within the financial sector and coupled with Qs about the timing of the economic recovery.
Couple that with headlines announcing that China’s Y 2008 Q 4 GDP contracted from 9% to 6.8%, the UK reporting a GDP decline of 1.5%, the largest since 1980, US housing starts fell to their lowest level on record, and initial jobless claims returned to Christmas levels, matching the 26 yr. high of 589,000 set in December 2008.
Though Microsoft disappointed, IBM and AAPL rang the bell with GOOG beating too, and coming in better than expected.
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Let’s have a look at the Golden name in the world’s Gold mining sector: Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX) from a Technical POV (point of view).

The overall analysis after Fridays (11-07-08) market action is Bearish overall, in the near term it is Neutral, mid-term Neutral, and long term Very Bearish, this can change on any strong upside action with good volume.

Barrick closed up 3.17 pts at 25.43 volume approaching 15MM/shrs on the day (Nov. 04, 2008)

There is a Gap Open Up on October 29, 2008 at (20.39) and 3 Open Gaps Down on the chart dating back to August 5, 2008 (39.50) thru October 2, 2008 (36.00), the near term resistance is the 50 day moving average at 29.10.

This is Barrick Gold Corporation: In the world of mining, Barrick Gold is the Gold Standard. The company became the world’s One # One Gold producer, ahead of Newmont Mining and AngloGold Ashanti, after acquiring Placer Dome in 2006. Barrick puts out 8MM ozs of Gold annually and has 125MM ozs in proven and probable reserves. About ½ of its production comes from the North American operations, which include Goldstrike, located in Nevada’s Carlin Trend Gold producing region. Outside of North America Barrick has active projects in Tanzania, Peru, and Australia. On the Placer Dome acquisition came huge copper mining operations that brought Barrick more than 6B Lbs of Copper reserves.

Barrick Gold Corp (ABX)
Expected next earnings release:
Announcement date: 2/19/2009 – Before Market
Earnings Quarter: Q4
Announcement Status: Unconfirmed
Expected next dividend:
Dividend Announcement Date: 10/29/2008
Dividend Record Date: 11/28/2008
Dividend Pay Date: 12/15/2008
Dividend Amount: 0.20

Note: In the metals mining sector demand is driven by industrial demand and economic growth, both domestic and foreign. A company’s profitability depends on volume and efficient operations. Large companies like Barrick can afford to discover and develop new deposits and increase reserves. Small companies typically own just one mine, limit exploration to that one property, and operate it as efficiently as possible. Gold mining today is highly automated; annual revenue per employee is approx. US$30 The overall analysis after yesterday’s market action is Bearish overall, in the near term it is Neutral, mid-term Bearish and long term Bearish, this can change on any strong upside action with good volume.

Gold and Politics
On August 15, 1971, US President, Richard Nixon unilaterally canceled the Bretton Woods system and stopped the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. As a result, the U.S. dollar was decoupled from gold, and gold prices could fluctuate like any other commodity.
The data is limited when comparing the performance of Gold prices as they relate to the political affiliation of the President of the United States. There are some striking similarities between the performance of Gold prices during the great Gold bull market of the 1970s and today’s Gold bull market and how the Presidential political affiliation was and is tilted.

Democrat Barack Obama has been elected to become the 44th President of the United States of America, and some gold bugs are extremely happy because the biggest Gold bull market in modern history peaked during a political landscape that is similar to what we are seeing today.

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