Well, they did it! Thursday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was ousted and replaced by Julia Gillard in Australia. She began her job as Australia‘s first female prime minister by promising to smooth relations with mining, its biggest industry. That should have pushed up some of the mining stocks that have a good amount of business in the country. If you recall, the Rudd administration had proposed a heavy tax on the morning companies that would help to pay for further “stimulus” by sharing the natural resource wealth with the citizens of Australia.

But, it did nothing of the sort. Even after the initial move by the mining companies right after the news announcement, optimism faded quickly. Perhaps some of that is can be blamed on the continuing concern from the EuroZone, or the dovish comments out of the Fed. Either way though, it does not seem logical that these names have been taken down as they were. We will watch some of these carefully as profits on will turn as does the political wind blows.

(Charts of the stocks listed above – click each to enlarge)

(Click on each chart to enlarge)