Pescod Talks about ... BNK and more

BANKERS PETROLEUM $5.15 +0.44 (T-BNK)

TIREX RESOURCES (V-TXX) $0.69 -0.04

A trip we made to Albania about six months ago has

certainly paid off for us...it gave us a first-hand glance of

what Bankers Petroleum had in Albania and it has made all

the difference to our own portfolio and hopefully to many

of those who have followed our work. One look at the val-

ley and you knew there was something huge there.

Meanwhile, in Northern Albania we also toured Tirex’s

holdings where there were no less than eight different

prison camps where political prisoners were employed as

miners in some of the operations. A look at the tailings

piles and some of the operations would suggests that

there’s some mining assets in Albania as well. But so far,

Tirex isn’t getting that respect.

Today Tirex announces some drilling results from the

first part of their next phase of drilling and when you come

up with 30 metres of 1.04% copper, some zinc—1.1% and a

gram of gold, you are on to something that could be sig-

nificant if there is size.

Bryan Slusarchuk, the ex-Canaccord broker and leader

of the team at Tirex tells us that the drilling continues to

ramp up and they are continuing to step out to the south

and north. The zone he suggests is absolutely wide open.

He suggests with the start of the assays, the news will

continue to flow.

Meanwhile, drilling is starting up this week on the east

slope trends with multiple targets up and down this brand

new trend giving them “exposure to pure discovery poten-

tial.”

He points out that this trend, equally important geo-

physically to the large historical producing trend in the

district, was hidden from past Albanian state-led explorers

by a thin limestone cap. Tirex identified this by doing the

country’s first ever airborne and now after a whole lot of

ground work, are drilling those targets.

Once again, Bankers was bringing in new technology

which has helped on their oil, Tirex is bringing in new

technology which we now think is going to start to make a

difference for Tirex in its modern exploration.

Slusarchuk has come up with some decent winners in

the past when we asked him for stock picks as he also had

been one of many who picked Bankers and Energold Drill-

ing (EGD) which is now better than a double. He is still

keen on Underworld when they get back to work again

next year for their play in the Yukon,

but right now one of his favorites is Wildcat Silver (WS) and he points out that

the first drill results are expected soon and he writes, “I

always noted that once this powerhouse team had drill

results on the way, it would be able to create some very

significant attention in the markets.”

URANIUM

Suddenly we are having fun in the markets and we’ve

gone from one extreme to the other. The market crash

of almost a year ago and suddenly everything is flying.

Has the easy money been made in oil, base metals,

you-name-it? While there is still one sector where so

many companies involved are laid out on the floor - that

being uranium—the question is, with what has hap-

pened with uranium production at the Olympia Dam

Mine in Australia, maybe uranium is about to make a

move off the floor.

Different sources have different ideas about how

long production will be curtailed in Australia, but maybe

it might be the first step in the rebirth of the price of

uranium and with so many uranium stocks so cheap,

for those who missed rallies in other sectors…??

Notice the chart by Tom Akin and his crew at Re-

search Capital with their comments.

Dow 10000+

The Dow crossed five figures in afternoon trading Wednesday, seven months after it hit a 12-year low of 6,547.05 on March 9. The comeback by Wall Street’s best-known indicator is the most visible sign yet that investors believe the economy is indeed recovering from the financial crisis and recession. (October 14, 2009)

NEW YORK - The Dow Jones industrial average has reclaimed 10,000 for the first time in a year.

The Dow closed above five figures Wednesday, seven months after it hit a 12-year low of 6,547.05 on March 9. The comeback by the stock market’s best-known indicator is the most visible sign yet that investors believe the economy is indeed recovering from the financial crisis and recession.

Cheering erupted from traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as stocks briefly moved above the psychological barrier. The Dow at times fell back below 10,000 in the normal ebb and flow of trading.

“People feel more comfortable and feel like there’s less risk in the market when you get above a psychological point like 10,000,” said Carl Beck, a partner at Harris Financial Group.

Upbeat earnings reports from chip maker Intel Corp. and banker JPMorgan Chase & Co. Wednesday gave the Dow its final push past 10,000.

Investors are increasingly shaking off lingering doubts about the economy. However, analysts still warn that problems like rising unemployment and a weak housing market pose a threat to a solid recovery.

The Dow is now up 53 percent from its March low. But it remains 29 percent below its peak of 14,164.53 hit in October 2007.

The index first finished above 10,000 on March 29, 1999, in the midst of a powerful rally that ended with the dot-com bust at the start of this decade. Stocks then fell below that mark last October as investors sold stocks in a feverish panic following the downfall of Lehman Brothers.

The latest round of earnings reports, which will continue to pour in over the next few weeks, are the key to keeping the market’s rally alive, analysts say. If earnings fall short of expectations, stocks could stumble.

JPMorgan Chase, the first major bank to report third-quarter earnings, stoked the market’s optimism as it easily beat Wall Street’s expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion for the July-September period. The bank also achieved record year-to-date revenue.

Investors didn’t seem fazed that JPMorgan, considered one of the strongest financial institutions throughout the financial crisis, doubled the amount of money it set aside during the quarter to cover failed home and credit card loans.

“Better-than-expected is a win,” said Peter Schwartz, principal at Gregory J. Schwartz & Co. “People’s expectations have been calibrated to buffer some of the bad news.”

Intel also beat analysts’ estimates, reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in profits and sales after the market closed Tuesday. The leading chip maker said it expects sales in the final period of the year to top projections, raising hopes that the computer market is improving.

Together, the reports quieted fears that major U.S. companies won’t be able to boost profits through sales growth and not just massive cost-cutting, which was a main driver behind the improvement in second-quarter results.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 144.80, or 1.47 percent, to 10,015.86. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 18.72, or 1.74 percent, to 1,091.90, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 31.11, or 1.45 percent, to 2,171.00.