- Black Friday to Avoid Red Ink; Greenback Gets the Blues
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
- AIG, Ex-CEO Greenberg Reach Pact to Settle Disputes
- Bank of America CEO Search May Extend Into 2010
- Steepest Black Friday Discounts, Revealed
- Fed to Counsel Moviegoers on How to Use Credit Cards
- 'Cancer of Fraud' Permeates Health Care System: Critics
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
MOST SHARED
- The Executive Job Search
- Where Do Pardoned Turkeys Go?
- Salvation Army's Kettles Now Credit Card-Ready
- Chinese Overcapacity is Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- Activision Prepares to Double Dip on ‘Modern Warfare 2’
- US Mint to Suspend American Eagle Gold 1-Ounce Coins
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Oil Friday
Text Size 
Rio Tinto is set to report first-half results Thursday and market watchers are predicting a sharp drop in profit for the Anglo-Australian miner.
 |
Outlook is likely to be cautious like rival BHP Billiton [BLT-LN
Loading...
()
], with no certainty until 2010, Warren Edney, senior analyst at RBS, said.
“In cutting back (capital expenditure) in January 2009, Rio mothballed most of its growth projects,” Nick Hatch, head of metals and mining equity research at ING said. “The balance sheet is now repaired and commodity prices have started to rise again.”
“Management may take the view to re-initiate these growth projects,” Hatch added. “We believe it is likely premature for this to happen, with announcements of restarts more likely later this year.”
In addition, investors will be looking at whether Rio Tinto [RIO-LN
Loading...
()
] plans to sell more assets to pay off debt.
“They still have the Alcan engineering businesses and a few more general exploration (and) development assets to sell,” Peter Arden, senior research analyst at Ord Minnett said. “But I doubt they will get them sold any time soon although they almost seem to have a bit of a head of steam up on it now.”
And some reassurance on the company’s China business would cheer investors, Paul McTaggart of Credit Suisse said.
“The market has been awash with all sorts of news recently regarding the detention of Rio employees in Shanghai,” McTaggart said. “Reassurance of business as usual sales of iron ore to China will be welcomed by the market.”
- For nearly three decades, these on-call experts have been dishing advice on how to – and not to – cook turkey.
- Eric Schmidt pledges to create a virtual copy of the Iraq National Museum at Google’s expense.
- Bill Griffeth is taking a leave of absence from CNBC and Power Lunch for a year. Here's a message from Bill.
- More shoppers than ever plan to comparison-shop this season. Who will benefit?
- It may be the most unusual guide to business you'll read.
- How can you get out of debt and back on the road to recovery? Follow these ten steps.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes