U.S. Markets Feb. 10-13

With the passage of U. S. President Barack Obama’s US$787-billion stimulus package in Congress on Feb. 13, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 420.46 points, or 5.4%, to close the Feb. 10-13 reporting period at 7,850.41 points. The S&P 500 index dropped 43.05 points or 5.2% to close at 826.84. (Markets in the U. S. were closed on Monday, Feb. 16 for President’s Day.)

Volatile equity markets and safe-haven buying continued to drive up the price of gold. Spot gold closed at US$941.60 per oz. on Feb. 13, just US$61.40 per oz. below the record high above US$1,003 per oz. attained in March 2008. The Amex Gold Bugs index climbed 12.01 points or 4% to 311.16 points, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index mounted 4.78 points or 3.8% to close at 130.88 points. Randgold Resources topped the charts with the biggest value gain, advancing US$3.20 to close at US$47.78 per share. On Feb. 9, the company announced it had boosted production and trimmed costs in the fourth quarter of 2008 to end the year with an adjusted net profit of US$57.4 million, up 26% on 2007.

Other winners in the gold space included Seabridge Gold, which rose US$2.61 to US$16.35 per share and Goldcorp, which bounced US$2.14 to US$31.75.

The biggest newsmaker was Rio Tinto, which advanced US$1.34 to close the reporting period at US$113.72 per share. The company confirmed on Feb. 12 that Aluminum Corp. of China(Chinalco) will invest US$19.5 billion and acquire stakes in its projects in Chile, the U. S. and Australia.

The biggest value losers seemed to be spread evenly across all commodities. Global resource giant BHP Billiton slid US$3.18 to US$42.88 per share on no news. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan dropped US$3.04 to US$86.06 per share, while Mosaic Co. lost US$2.76 to close at US$42.88 per share. Consol Energy, the largest underground coal producer in the U. S., lost US$1.65 to close at US$31.53, while iron ore and coal miner Cliffs Natural Resources dropped US$2.02 to US$27.76 per share. Finally, OM Group, a leading producer of metal-based specialty chemicals, fell US$2.19 to US$20.04 per share, while uranium giant Cameco fell US$1.56 to US$15.50.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	208653	16.73	14.89	16.10	-0.87
Alcoa* AA	132679	8.85	7.21	7.48	-1.02
Freeport McMo*FCX	99111	30.90	26.80	30.51	+ 1.19
Barrick Gold* ABX	59357	39.37	36.84	37.94	+ 0.11
PotashCSask* POT	57458	91.82	81.00	86.06	-3.04
Goldcorp* GG	55652	32.26	28.98	31.75	+ 2.14
Kinross Gold* KGC	43307	19.46	17.48	18.91	+ 0.88
Silver Wheatn* SLW	41269	7.25	6.21	7.15	+ 0.65
Mosaic* MOS	40333	46.95	39.80	42.88	-2.76
Gold Fields* GFI	40016	11.68	10.00	11.17	+ 0.70

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Fischer-W Gld*	FWGO	155	0.05	0.02	0.04	+100.0
Beeston Ent*	BESE	3605	0.04	0.02	0.04	+100.0
Santa Fe Gold*	SFEG	1391	1.10	0.67	1.05	+ 56.7
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	21	0.09	0.06	0.09	+ 50.0
Industrl Mnls*	IDSM	416	0.04	0.04	0.04	+ 33.3
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	21	0.09	0.06	0.09	+ 28.5
Kimber Res*	KBX	206	0.66	0.50	0.65	+ 25.0
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	15	0.06	0.05	0.05	+ 25.0
Almaden Mnls*	AAU	475	0.88	0.67	0.83	+ 23.8
Claude Res*	CGR	990	0.79	0.55	0.78	+ 23.8
Intl Coal Gp*	ICO	12449	2.94	1.80	1.80	-34.5
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	65	0.35	0.17	0.25	-32.4
Uranium Star*	URST	170	0.07	0.05	0.05	-28.5
APEX Silver*	APXSQ	4242	0.06	0.03	0.05	-28.5
Silver Dragon*	SDRG	500	0.11	0.08	0.09	-18.1
Patriot Coal*	PCX	6732	6.45	4.52	4.85	-15.9
Legend Intl H*	LGDI	796	0.68	0.53	0.54	-15.6
Banro Res*	BAA	541	1.70	1.28	1.36	-15.0
General Moly*	GMO	1532	1.09	0.77	0.89	-14.4
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	312	0.06	0.05	0.06	-14.2

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Randgold Res* GOLD	4191063	47.78	+ 3.20
ASA (Bermuda)* ASA	225206	53.14	+ 2.64
Seabridge Gld* SA	1516667	16.35	+ 2.61
Goldcorp* GG	55651878	31.75	+ 2.14
Agrium* AGU	3437700	40.52	+ 1.62
AngloGold Ash* AU	14953766	29.64	+ 1.52
Rio Tinto* RTP	5114629	113.72	+ 1.34
Pan Am Silver* PAAS	10468588	17.51	+ 1.27
Newmont Mng* NEM	38099109	41.58	+ 1.22
Freeport McMo* FCX	99111489	30.51	+ 1.19
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	7136321	37.18	-3.52
BHP Bil li-BHP* BHP	27543801	42.88	-3.18
Potash C Sask* POT	57457810	86.06	-3.04
Mosaic* MOS	40333052	42.88	-2.76
OM Group* OMG	2267905	20.04	-2.19
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	12715068	27.76	-2.02
MDU Res* MDU	5934239	18.22	-1.84
CONSOL Energy* CNX	18260036	31.53	-1.65
Anglo Americn* AAUK	12480108	9.39	-1.56
Cameco Corp* CCJ	13203616	15.50	-1.56