Stockhouse @ the Bell: Stocks, oil take a beating

Today on Stockhouse

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Louis James of Casey Research debates whether we are at the gold mania stage in this bull market.

And, Frank Curzio of Growth Stock Wire outlines what he believes is the next big North American energy trend.

Top Bullboards post: “Trelawney will have to make a move soon and if not for an outright take-over of Augen Gold it will most definitely be for the Nine Claims along the shared border adjacent to the Cote Lake Discovery. The problem here...if you want to call it that...is that the market place does not like uncertainty and it is very clear to me that Trelawney will need, at the least the two claims in close proximity to the North section of the Cote Lake Discovery...a part of the nine claim package. The Initial NI 43-101 Resource of the Cote Lake Deposit now stands at 4.22 million ounces and if you read the report carefully you will discover that the Resource includes an area of 50 metres close to the hole locations...that puts them even closer to our shared border....what does this tell us?...mineralization should be present within 50 metres of existing drilled holes which puts them only 100 metres away from our shared border regarding hole E10-38. The market understands that at some point in time they will have to design the most efficient and cost effective Open Pit layout to extract the most gold and do so under the most economic conditions...in my opinion they need....at the least the two claims owned by Augen along the shared border. There is at least another 1 million ounces between the last holes drilled and the shared border...a conservative figure taking into account that the mineralization is known to be present at a vertical depth of 550 metres. There is no way possible that they can get to it at those depths without expanding the Open Pit onto Augen Land!” From digger144 on the Augen Gold (TSX: V.GLD, Stock Forum) board.

Top Bullboard:Copper Fox Metals (TSX: V.CUU, Stock Forum) received the second-most reads and posts.

Top blog: littleguy123 looks at how an economy would function hypothetically if it fully “monetized” silver as the official currency in circulation in the Outside the Market blog.

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

Word on Wall Street

“It’s a bit like the Red Sox season so far, full of promise but also a bad start,” said David Kelly, chief market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, in an interview with MarketWatch. “What we’re seeing is a bump in the road, much like last summer. It’s a certain amount of hesitancy, clearly this economy isn’t booming, it’s gradually recuperating.”

Today In The Markets

TSX tumbles amid sliding commodity prices, Alcoa disappointment

DJIA	12,263.58	-117.53
NASDAQ	2,744.79	-26.72
S&P500	1,314.16	-10.30
S&P/TSX	13,801.40	-195.46
S&P/TSX Venture	2,303.77	-42.73

Toronto & New York (The Canadian Press) - The Toronto stock market tumbled almost 200 points Tuesday as oil prices dropped amid a feeling that a recent boom in commodities has run its course and investors reacted to disappointing first-quarter revenue at Alcoa Inc.

The S&P /TSX composite index dropped 195.46 points or 1.4 per cent to 13,801.4 while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 42.73 points to 2,303.77.

Meanwhile, Alcoa handed in first-quarter net income of US$308 million, or 27 cents a share, which beat analyst expectations. Sales increased to US$5.96 billion from US$4.89 billion a year ago but that fell short of expectations. Its shares were down six per cent at US$16.70.

The Alcoa report helped send New York markets sharply lower with the Dow Jones industrial average down 117.53 points to 12,263.58. The Nasdaq composite index fell 26.72 points to 2,744.79 while the S&P 500 index was 10.3 points lower at 1,314.16.

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

After-Hours News

True North Gems (TSX: V.TGX, Stock Forum)
True North Gems announces it intends to complete a non-brokered private placement of up to 30,000,000 units at a price of $0.10 per unit, subject to regulatory approval. Each unit will be comprised of one common share and one half non-transferable common share purchase warrant, each warrant exercisable for one additional common share for a period of two years at a price of $0.15 per share for year one, and $0.20 per share for year two. Proceeds are earmarked for the permit application process in Greenland, for seasonal exploration work and for working capital.