Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) is the largest gold mining company in the world by production, although it isn’t by market capitalization [that title is held by Goldcorp (NYSE:GG)]. One of the reasons for this is the company’s failure to generate shareholder value over the years despite a very strong gold market. If you had bought Barrick Gold back on December 31, 1999, your position would be up just 5 percent along with some, but not much, dividend income. Meanwhile the gold price is up five-fold. Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) stock performance was 1.54% in last session and finished the day at $19.18. Traded volume was 12.79million shares in the last session and the average volume of the stock remained 10.23million shares. The beta of the stock remained 0.25.

Vale SA (ADR) (NYSE:VALE), the world’s biggest iron-ore producer, sees prices for the steelmaking ingredient recovering to $110 a metric ton as China’s demand keeps growing.  Iron-ore prices, which fell below $90 per dry metric ton last month, have been curbed by higher supply from Australian producers in the first part of the year, Vale Chief Executive Officer Murilo Ferreira said in an interview today. No additional supply by Australian companies is expected in the second part of the year, helping prices to recover, he said.  Vale SA (ADR) (NYSE:VALE) dropped -2.92 percent to $13.98 Thursday on volume of 15.28million shares. The intra-day range of the stock was $13.97 to $14.25. Vale SA (ADR) (NYSE:VALE) has a market capitalization of $72.04billion.

Packaging Corp of America (NYSE:PKG) presently has an excellent rank, in the top 25% of the coverage universe, which suggests it is among the top most “interesting” ideas that merit further research by investors. Packaging Corp Of America (NYSE:PKG)’s stock on July 17, 2014 reported a decrease of -1.19% to the closing price of $66.41. Its fifty two weeks range is $51.28 -$75.10. The total market capitalization recorded $6.53billion. The overall volume in the last trading session was 1.32million shares. In its share capital, PKG has 98.32million outstanding shares.

Zacks reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm currently has a $123.00 price target on the stock. On Thursday, shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) dropped -0.90% to close the day at $116.79. Company return on investment (ROI) is 12.90% and its monthly performance is recorded as 1.47%. Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) quarterly revenue growth is 3.54%.

XOMA Corp (NASDAQ:XOMA) news, CEO John Varian unloaded 10,000 shares of the stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.03, for a total transaction of $40,300.00. XOMA Corp (NASDAQ:XOMA) stock performance was -5.37% in last session and finished the day at $3.70. Traded volume was 1.71million shares in the last session and the average volume of the stock remained 1.65million shares. The beta of the stock remained 2.81. XOMA Corp (NASDAQ:XOMA) insider ownership is 0.80%.