U.S. Markets – Oct. 27-Nov. 2

Markets in the United States retreated over the Oct. 27-Nov. 2 reporting period, making October the first losing month since February. Economists say investors have become worried that the eight-month global rally in equities may have surpassed the prospects for earnings and growth.

The U. S. economy did expand over the third quarter with the GDP accelerating at 3.5% between July and the end of September, but recent data also showed that consumer confidence has taken a dip.

The losses over the period weren’t so severe for the Dow Jones Industrial Average at less than 1%. The Dow inched 78.5 points lower to 9,789.4 points but the S&P 500 index dropped 2.3% over the period, down 24.1 points to 1,042.9.

Nearly 205 million Alcoa shares changed hands, making it the most actively traded stock by far. Alcoa slipped US80¢ to close at US$12.48. The aluminum maker is one of many U. S. giants still holding onto more cash than usual following the global credit meltdown.

Arch Coal shares were down US$1.50 to US$21.77 after the company sold less coal at lower prices during the third quarter. However, the company said it aims to double sales of metallurgical coal to 4 million tons next year.

Rio Tinto was one of the top losers over the period on a value basis. Rio Tinto shares fell US$9.84 to US$182.28 apiece. The miner said it’s getting ready for a commodity rebound and plans to spend up to US$3.5 billion to solidify its core business and to diversify as a miner from iron ore, copper and aluminum. The company suffered more over the last year than its main competitors, BHP Billiton and Vale because of debt incurred through its purchase of Alcan in 2007 at the top of the market.

BHP, which tried to take over Rio last year, was also a top loser over the period, shedding US$5.04 to close at US$66.48. The company is in talks with Minara Resources, an Australian-listed company interested in buying its Ravensthorpe nickel mine. BHP shut the mine down last January.

The big gold miners fell back a bit over the period despite the still strong gold price.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	204567	13.38	11.89	12.48	-0.80
Freeport McMo*FCX	91229	79.65	72.38	74.61	-4.87
Hecla Mining* HL	82371	4.41	3.79	4.11	-0.22
Barrick Gold* ABX	77895	37.27	34.50	36.51	+ 0.31
Kinross Gold* KGC	76364	19.93	17.84	18.29	-2.05
Goldcorp* GG	57951	38.59	35.47	37.16	-1.25
Newmont Mng* NEM	52594	44.89	41.45	43.57	+ 0.23
Silver Wheatn* SLW	51772	13.27	11.86	12.65	-0.36
Teck B* TCK	42418	31.88	27.96	28.88	-3.14
Arch Coal* ACI	40372	24.39	21.01	21.77	-1.50

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	1715	0.07	0.05	0.07	+ 40.0
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	67	0.23	0.16	0.23	+ 35.2
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	100	0.25	0.17	0.25	+ 31.5
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	116	0.15	0.11	0.15	+ 25.0
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	636	0.18	0.12	0.17	+ 21.4
Samex Mng*	SMXMF	796	0.35	0.25	0.35	+ 20.6
Keegan Res*	KGN	109	4.99	4.22	4.92	+ 17.4
US Antimony*	UAMY	66	0.55	0.45	0.52	+ 15.5
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	31	0.09	0.04	0.08	+ 14.2
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	2001	0.26	0.20	0.25	+ 13.6
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	10	0.11	0.06	0.06	-40.0
Constittn Mng*	CMIN	1344	1.29	0.89	0.89	-27.0
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	320	0.35	0.25	0.25	-26.4
Augusta Res*	AZC	535	3.08	2.37	2.40	-21.8
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	127	0.19	0.15	0.16	-20.0
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	513	0.05	0.03	0.04	-20.0
Bullion Monar*	BULM	387	0.86	0.60	0.70	-19.5
America West*	AWSR	291	0.11	0.08	0.09	-18.1
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	129	0.17	0.14	0.14	-17.6
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	39799	66.45	51.38	54.57	-16.9

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Keegan Res* KGN	108600	4.92	+ 0.73
Richmont Mine* RIC	486755	3.16	+ 0.34
Barrick Gold* ABX	77894894	36.51	+ 0.31
Newmont Mng* NEM	52593872	43.57	+ 0.23
PlatinumGpM* PLG	126100	1.64	+ 0.17
Contintl Mnls* KMKCF	1212316	1.50	+ 0.15
Gold Reserve* GRZ	2417054	1.23	+ 0.13
Taseko Mines* TGB	13934086	3.03	+ 0.11
Silvercorp Mt* SVM	572000	5.13	+ 0.07
US Antimony* UAMY	66396	0.52	+ 0.07
Agnico-Eagle* AEM	39798631	54.57	-11.16
Rio Tinto* RTP	5297636	182.28	-9.84
Potash C Sask* P OT	33868114	92.21	-6.40
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP	34365861	66.48	-5.04
Freeport McMo* FCX	91229327	74.61	-4.87
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	10880067	54.96	-3.49
AngloGold Ash* AU	18360142	37.76	-3.42
Teck B* TCK	42417927	28.88	-3.14
CONSOL Energy* CNX	20839448	43.35	-2.98
Southern Copp* PCU	20807988	32.18	-2.58