U.S. MARKETS -July 12-16

The U.S. Congress may have passed a landmark reform bill to overhaul the country’s financial regulatory system during the July 12-16 trading week, but President Barack Obama still faces a minefield of problems in his battle to get the economy back on track including a relentless unemployment rate of 9.5% and souring consumer sentiment.

U.S. equities remained fragile with the Dow Jones industrial average losing 100.13 points or 0.98% to close at 10,097.90, and the S&P 500 index falling 13.08 points or 1.2% to finish at 1,064.88.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Ivanhoe Mines and Cameco Corp. posted the top three value gains. Potash Corp. jumped US$3.69 to US$96.59 per share on no news but ahead of second-quarter earnings results due out July 29.

Ivanhoe Mines advanced US$2.34 to US$16.34 per share following news that it was starting to flex its muscles with majority shareholder Rio Tinto. On July 13, Ivanhoe said it would terminate restrictions on potential new investors that had been part of a five-year investment agreement it had signed with Rio Tinto, which allows the latter to acquire up to, but no more than, 46.25% of Ivanhoe. The agreement also bars Ivanhoe from issuing more than 5% of its shares to anyone else. Ivanhoe also declared on July 12 that it planned to continue to support a shareholder rights plan unveiled in April.

Cameco gained US$1.15 to US$23.99 per share. In late June, the Canadian uranium producer announced it had signed its first long-term supply agreement with a major Chinese nuclear utility. Under the deal, China National Energy Industry Corp., a subsidiary of China National Nuclear Corp. will receive 23 million lbs. of uranium concentrate under a long-term agreement through 2020.

Entre Gold was up US31¢ to US$2.15 -still basking in news it received a mining licence for its Nomkhon Bohr coal discovery in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.

On the gold front, the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index was down 4.4% to 167.39 points. Junior explorer Elray Resources was one of the few gold companies to end the week in positive territory, recording a 75% jump to US7¢ per share, on no news.

U.S. most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	171856	11.34	10.41	10.41	-0.53
Freeport McMo* FCX	63819	65.44	59.91	60.08	-5.60
Mosaic* MOS	46024	46.23	41.26	44.76	-1.37
Barrick Gold* ABX	44288	44.78	41.56	41.75	-1.82
Newmont Mng* NEM	33715	62.99	58.76	58.90	-3.03
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	29309	50.62	46.35	46.55	-4.52
Vale* VALE	28352	25.84	24.31	24.34	-1.97
Hecla Mining* HL	24217	5.10	4.52	4.70	-0.37
Potash C Sask* POT	24092	98.99	90.88	96.59	+ 3.69
Ivanhoe Mines* IVN	23494	17.38	14.22	16.34	+ 2.34

U.S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Elray Res*	ELRA	199	0.07	0.04	0.07	+ 75.0
Amazon Goldsd*	AZNG	11	0.35	0.25	0.35	+ 40.0
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	32	0.14	0.10	0.13	+ 30.0
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	30	0.29	0.27	0.29	+ 20.8
Lake Vict Mng*	LVCA	284	0.32	0.22	0.29	+ 20.8
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	24	0.06	0.05	0.06	+ 20.0
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	1124	0.38	0.31	0.37	+ 19.3
Oromin Expl*	OLEPF	508	1.00	0.79	1.00	+ 17.6
Entree Gold*	EGI	1712	2.39	1.77	2.15	+ 16.8
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	23494	17.38	14.22	16.34	+ 16.7
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	68	0.05	0.04	0.04	-42.8
Affinity Gold*	AFYG	273	0.05	0.04	0.04	-20.0
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	466	0.05	0.04	0.04	-20.0
Tombstone Exp*	TMBXF	375	0.09	0.07	0.08	-20.0
Tara Gold*	TRGD	316	0.53	0.40	0.40	-16.6
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	269	0.07	0.05	0.06	-14.2
Thompson Crk*	TC	3456	9.85	8.71	8.75	-11.6
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	48	0.09	0.07	0.08	-11.1
Arch Coal*	ACI	22486	22.05	19.57	19.65	-10.9
Northern Dyn*	NAK	686	7.16	6.31	6.37	-10.5

U.S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash C Sask*	POT	24091965	96.59	+ 3.69
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	23493765	16.34	+ 2.34
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	12626618	23.99	+ 1.15
Alliance Rs P*	ARLP	296813	48.07	+ 0.69
Agrium*	AGU	3684700	58.64	+ 0.47
Mesabi Trust*	MSB	329226	18.81	+ 0.41
Intrepid Pots*	IPI	1043100	22.48	+ 0.38
Entree Gold*	EGI	1712464	2.15	+ 0.31
Mountain Prov*	MDM	88187	2.89	+ 0.25
Stillwater Mg*	SWC	9418584	12.68	+ 0.20
Freeport McMo*	FCX	63818823	60.08	-5.60
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	29309466	46.55	-4.52
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	15428228	33.99	-3.76
Newmont Mng*	NEM	33714922	58.90	-3.03
Teck B*	TCK	22970772	31.64	-2.72
Rio Tinto*	RTP	12308171	45.76	-2.53
Arch Coal*	ACI	22486191	19.65	-2.41
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	18180733	65.53	-2.31
Randgold Res*	GOLD	3926807	91.15	-2.15
Massey Energy*	MEE	14282386	28.15	-2.10