Mining Shares Prove Resilient (FCX, SCCO, NEM, RIO)

It was a wild day for shares of mining companies Freeport McMoran FCX, Southern Copper Corp SCCO, Newmont Mining NEM, and Rio Tinto RIO. All of them began the day in positive territory but came under intense selling pressure in the middle of the session as copper futures plummeted over two percent. Despite all turning negative for a brief time as a result of copper's descent, shares of all four companies bounced back and closed well off of their lows of the day. Their resiliency bodes well for the market for the remainder of the week, as bears couldn't hold these materials names down. Freeport sold off to under $54 at one point. After retesting the lows of the day, shares began their ascent and continued to push higher for remainder of the session. It closed up 1.73% at $55.24, seven cents off of its high. Southern Copper had been down over 1.5%, but pared its losses closing slightly negative at $40.25. Newmont closed at $54.12, putting in a nice gain of 1.18%. Rio was only negative for a fleeting moment as it proved to be the strongest of the group. Shares closed up 2.05% at $71.56.