Stockhouse @ the Bell: Stocks up on jobs data

Today on Stockhouse

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Ticker Trax’s Thom Calandra explains why serious mining stock investors are demanding to see drill core.

While David Fessler of Investment U describes a commodity price that has skyrocketed almost nine-fold in a year.

Top Bullboards post: “Let me state that I still feel that in the longer term this company has great potential but in the near term there need to be some catalysts to ensure an upward trend in the share price. It is wonderful that they were able to increase their reserves but as I have stated previously, this is just a small piece of the puzzle. Wisee is correct that the near 400 million shares outstanding is a limitation to real short term price appreciation. Also, in Q4 they still reported a $1.2 mill loss so the implication is that they will need financing at the end of F' 2011 unless they dramatically increase their oil production. So if they have enough cash for 2011 operations, one can assume that whatever the profit for 2011 that will be their cash for operations in 2012. With an annual operating budget of $12-14 mill, they would have to make a profit for 2011 of the same amount in order not to have to go to the market for financing or they would have to go into debt. We are not even considering any capital expenditures yet. So you have to ask yourself, which is the most likely scenario? Even if they increase production to their current projection of 2000 bod by end of 2011, it seems a stretch to think they will have a profit large enough to fund all of their future activities from organic growth. Remember, it is not the year end production number that is the key, it is the full year average per month. So folks any investment here must be viewed as a long term commitment. We need to see some oil production growth and soon. Then we need to see a consistent growth pattern to develop. Only then should we expect the share price to move in any meaningful way.” From SwissTime on the Sea Dragon Energy (TSX: V.SDX, Stock Forum) board.

Top Bullboard:Intertainment Media (TSX: V.INT, Stock Forum) received the most reads and posts.

Top blog: littleguy123 asserts that he believes U.S. employment “statistics” are a total fabrication in the Outside the Market blog.

For news about small stocks that made big moves in Wednesday’s trading, please read the Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report.

Word on Wall Street

“We continue to see very light volume heading into the end of the quarter. I still believe that the upside pressure on the market is mainly due to the need to reduce cash before the end of the quarter,” Marc Pado, U.S. equity strategist at Miller Tabak, in an interview with MarketWatch.

Today In The Markets

Toronto stock market closes higher amid major drug sector bid, U.S. jobs data

DJIA	12,350.61	+71.60
NASDAQ	2,776.79	+19.90
S&P500	1,328.26	+8.82
S&P/TSX	14,083.58	+153.23
S&P/TSX Venture	2,286.44	+8.56

Toronto & New York (The Canadian Press) - The Toronto stock market registered a solid advance Wednesday as investors brushed aside unrest in the Middle East and a nuclear crisis in Japan and looked to positive jobs data and major news on the merger and acquisition front.

The S&P /TSX composite index closed up 153.23 points at 14,083.58 while the TSX Venture Exchange climbed 8.56 points to 2,286.44.

Payroll company ADP reported Wednesday that the U.S. private sector created about 201,000 jobs in March. That is roughly in line with expectations for Friday's report.
The ADP report helped push New York markets higher as the Dow Jones industrial average gained 71.6 points to 12,350.61.

The Nasdaq composite index was up 19.9 points at 2,776.79 while the S&P 500 index gained 8.82 points to 1,328.26.

Please click here for the complete U.S. and Canadian market summaries.

After-Hours News

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, Stock Forum)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, Stock Forum) and (NYSE: BRK.B, Stock Forum) announced the resignation of David Sokol, the Chairman of several Berkshire subsidiaries, who was widely seen as a possible successor to chief executive officer Warren Buffet. Buffet said he had not asked Sokol to resign and the decision “came as a surprise to me.”

SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX: T.SGQ, Stock Forum)
SouthGobi Resources Ltd. announced that new, independent estimates prepared by Minarco-MineConsult, have updated coal resources and proven and probable mineral reserves contained at the company's Ovoot Tolgoi complex, (comprised of the Ovoot Tolgoi Coal Mine and the Ovoot Tolgoi Underground Deposit) in Mongolia. Independent estimates for coal resources have also been updated by MMC for the company's Soumber Deposit (comprised of the Soumber Field and the Biluut Field). Total proven and probable surface coal Reserves estimated at the Ovoot Tolgoi Complex as of December 11, 2010, are estimated to be 106.8 million tonnes. Approximately 59% of the reserves are classified in the proven reliability or assurance category; the remaining 41% are in the Probable category.