U. S. Markets – March 24-30

U. S. equity markets lost ground during the March 24-30 reporting period: The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 254 points, or 3.3%, at 7,522; the S&P 500 index declined 35 points, or 4.3%, to 788; and the Nasdaq fell 54 points, or 3.5%, to 1,502.

What triggered the selloff was a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that projected the world’s developed economies will shrink by 4.3% this year, while world GDP will tumble 2.7%.

The OECD projects weak recovery next year, with the U. S. posting zero growth, Japan’s economy shrinking by 0.5%, and the Euro bloc contracting by 0.3%.

Precious metal prices declined, weighing on indices. The Amex Gold Bugs index dropped 9 points, or 2.8%, to 320, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index lost 4 points, or 2.8%, to 134.

Zinc prices rose on reports of a jump in Chinese imports. Copper imports to China were also reported to have increased, but prices dropped somewhat on recession fears.

NovaGold Resources rose US44¢ to US$2.74 after the Anchorage Daily News reported that development plans for its Donlin Creek gold joint venture with Barrick Gold are moving along quickly.

Heavyweight Anglo American fell US$2.31 to US$7.74. After the trading period, Reuters reported that the company was talking to banks about a US$2-billion loan. Last year, the company borrowed US$4.45 billion, which is repayable in 2011. Anglo recently sold its remaining shares in Anglo-Gold Ashanti.

Westmoreland Coal fell US$1.82 to US$7.68 after employees at its Rosebud mine in Montana went on strike. Despite coking coal contract prices in Australia, which, at US$128-129 per tonne, surprised a number of analysts on the upside, the coal sector was generally down.

News that Aluminium Corp. of China (Chinalco) has signed financing agreements for its proposed US$19.5-billion investment in Rio Tinto pushed Rio shares up US$1.23 to US$133, while Chinalco shares fell US$2.44 to US$14.61.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	269286	8.20	6.60	6.69	-0.68
Vale* RIO	187985	14.96	12.91	13.05	-1.91
Gemini Expl* GXPI	133577	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Freeport McMo*FCX	99298	43.45	37.85	38.53	-3.35
Golden Eagle* MYNG	81356	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Barrick Gold* ABX	61209	33.75	31.14	32.28	-0.84
PotashCSask*POT	58616	92.00	80.54	81.79	– 0.96
Goldcorp* GG	54939	35.47	32.50	33.49	-0.64
Mosaic* MOS	48483	49.78	42.19	42.74	-2.22
Silver Wheatn* SLW	42525	8.81	7.77	7.88	-0.41

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	423	0.29	0.09	0.24	+140.0
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	1690	0.03	0.01	0.03	+ 50.0
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	96	0.08	0.05	0.07	+ 40.0
Contintl Mnls*	KMKCF	849	0.50	0.30	0.50	+ 31.5
US Antimony*	UAMY	38	0.25	0.20	0.25	+ 25.0
World Vent*	WVNTF	288	0.05	0.03	0.05	+ 25.0
Solitario Res*	XPL	19	1.31	1.10	1.31	+ 22.4
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	156	0.06	0.05	0.06	+ 20.0
Dominion Mnls*	DMNM	50	0.20	0.07	0.12	+ 20.0
NovaGold Res*	NG	10287	2.80	2.17	2.74	+ 19.1
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	19	0.28	0.21	0.22	-35.2
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	15	0.02	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	22	0.10	0.07	0.07	-30.0
America West*	AWSR	215	0.17	0.12	0.12	-29.4
Dejour Enterp*	DEJ	88	0.25	0.19	0.19	-24.0
Anglo Americn*	AAUK	16461	9.56	7.60	7.74	-22.9
Quaterra Res*	QMM	57	0.69	0.55	0.55	-20.2
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	261	0.04	0.03	0.04	-20.0
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	46	0.04	0.02	0.04	-20.0
Westmoreland*	WLB	137	9.81	7.36	7.68	-19.1

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto* RTP	6297004	133.00	+ 1.23
Newmont Mng* NEM	40996985	45.30	+ 0.63
Richmont Mine* RIC	418990	3.75	+ 0.51
NovaGold Res* NG	10286861	2.74	+ 0.44
Allied Nevada* ANV	733800	5.45	+ 0.36
Ivanhoe Mines* IVN	11818988	5.84	+ 0.34
Eldorado Gold* EGO	20385028	8.81	+ 0.26
Solitario Res* XPL	18876	1.31	+ 0.24
Aurizon Mines* AZK	2904507	4.59	+ 0.18
Lundin Mng* LMC	8818638	1.45	+ 0.16
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	8125277	37.79	-7.14
CONSOL Energy* CNX	23156786	25.69	-5.36
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP	29623582	43.06	-5.02
Peab ody Enrgy* BTU	40322230	25.04	-3.84
Freeport McMo* FCX	99297536	38.53	-3.35
Agrium* AGU	2338900	35.65	-2.97
Alpha Nat Res* ANR	17426408	17.94	-2.68
AlumCpChina* ACH	1581000	14.61	-2.44
Foundatn Coal* FCL	6324827	14.55	-2.37
Anglo Americn* AAUK	16461442	7.74	-2.31