U. S. Markets – FEB. 3-9

U. S. markets were buoyed during the five-day trading period ended Feb. 9, as the U. S. Senate reached a deal on a massive stimulus bill on Friday, Feb. 6. (It later approved the package in a vote of 61-37 on Feb. 10.) The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 192.5 points or 2.4% to close at 8,270.87 points and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 31.4 points or 3.7% to close at 869.89. The market gains lifted some spirits, but the economic news remained dire. The U. S. economy lost 598,000 jobs in January, the biggest monthly loss in 34 years. Moody’s Investors Services warned on Feb. 5 that the U. S. government’s financial position “is projected to worsen considerably over the coming two years.”

Gold’s value as a hedge gained traction as diminishing trust in paper currency and expectations of a weaker U. S. dollar took hold. The spot price of gold fluctuated between US$900.60 per oz. on Feb. 3 to US$895 per oz. on Feb. 9. The Amex Gold Bugs index rose 8.9 points or 3.1% to close the reporting period at 299.15 points, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index rose 6.3 points or 5.2% to 126.1 points. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold was up US$4.73 per share to US$29.32 on no news, while Goldcorp gained US$1.19 per share to US$29.63 and Barrick Gold climbed US$1.84 to US$37.83.

Rio Tinto gained the most value, surging US$22.31 per share to close at US$112.38. News broke on Feb. 8 that non-executive director Jim Leng had quit the board and would not take over as the company’s chairman. Some analysts believe having the current chair, Paul Skinner, remain at the helm a little longer will be a source of stability in the current economic climate. Rio’s share price was also supported by speculation that Chinese state-owned Chinalco might buy more shares in the debt-ridden company.

BHP Billiton surged US$8.36 per share to US$46.06 on the back of strong first-half financial results for 2008. Despite deteriorating market conditions, the company recorded net operating cash flow of US$13.1 billion, up 74%, and attributable profit up 2% to US$6.1 billion. It also managed to cut its net debt by 51% to US$4.2 billion.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	308897	17.85	14.10	16.97	+ 2.89
Freeport McMo*FCX	147322	31.25	24.68	29.32	+ 4.73
Alcoa* AA	116389	8.90	7.56	8.50	+ 0.98
PotashCSask* POT	72118	95.46	73.12	89.10	+ 15.42
Hecla Mining* HL	63859	2.54	1.65	1.77	-0.74
Goldcorp* GG	61350	30.72	27.75	29.63	+ 1.19
Barrick Gold* ABX	59501	39.63	35.29	37.83	+ 1.84
Mosaic* MOS	53373	48.68	35.17	45.64	+ 10.14
Kinross Gold* KGC	50862	18.71	16.70	18.03	+ 0.89
Newmont Mng* NEM	44716	41.75	38.16	40.36	+ 0.99

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Apollo Gold*	AGT	14980	0.38	0.20	0.37	+ 76.1
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	17	0.37	0.25	0.37	+ 60.8
Argentex Mng*	AGXM	718	0.40	0.21	0.40	+ 53.8
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	2184	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	30	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
Minera Andes*	MNEAF	2158	0.41	0.25	0.40	+ 48.1
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	24843	23.10	16.26	22.67	+ 40.2
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	10	0.07	0.07	0.07	+ 40.0
North Am En P*	NOA	321	2.90	2.05	2.76	+ 34.6
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	25693	31.44	22.16	29.87	+ 34.4
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	6410	0.06	0.01	0.01	-85.7
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	98	0.08	0.04	0.04	-33.3
Hecla Mining*	HL	63859	2.54	1.65	1.77	-29.4
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	20	0.08	0.06	0.06	-25.0
Aspire Intl*	APIT	15	0.13	0.06	0.09	-25.0
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	48	0.06	0.05	0.05	-16.6
Canarc Res*	CRCUF	37	0.07	0.06	0.06	-14.2
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	212	0.82	0.69	0.71	-11.2
Almaden Mnls*	AAU	390	0.79	0.65	0.67	-10.6
Tombstone Exp*	TMBXF	402	0.18	0.17	0.17	-10.5

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto* RTP	9860016	112.38	+ 22.31
Potash C Sask* POT	72117746	89.10	+ 15.42
Mosaic* MOS	53373410	45.64	+ 10.14
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP	41497606	46.06	+ 8.36
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	9545395	40.70	+ 7.82
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	25693314	29.87	+ 7.66
Alpha Nat Res* ANR	24843299	22.67	+ 6.50
CONSOL Energy* CNX	23774408	33.18	+ 6.41
Agrium* AGU	3625200	38.90	+ 5.75
Freeport McMo* FCX	147321539	29.32	+ 4.73
Royal Gold* RGLD	3555150	43.03	-3.95
Pan Am Silver* PAAS	12318578	16.24	-1.08
Hecla Mining* HL	63859095	1.77	-0.74
Allied Nevada* ANV	275100	4.77	-0.43
Harmony Gold* HMY	14384919	11.31	-0.20
Tanz Roy Exp* TRE	1111854	3.60	-0.13
Western Goldf* WGW	452007	1.72	-0.12
Intl Tower Hi* THM	474183	2.10	-0.11
Uranerz Energ* URZ	212463	0.71	-0.09
Almaden Mnls* AAU	390136	0.67	-0.08