U.S. MARKETS -August 16-20

New claims for U.S. unemployment benefits climbed to a nine-month high during the Aug. 16-20 trading week, fuelling uncertainty about the overall economic outlook and sending gold prices higher. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 0.87% or 89.53 points to finish at 10,213.62, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.70% or 7.56 points to close at 1,071.69. Spot gold prices rose 1% during the period, closing in New York on Aug. 20 at US$1,228 per oz. after reaching a high of US$1,237.15 per oz. on Aug. 19, the highest price since July 1. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index gained 3.3% or 5.73 points to finish at 178.13.

BHP Billiton’s surprise US$39-billion (US$130-per-share) all-cash bid for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and speculation that other suitors will start coming out of the woodwork, dominated the headlines and pushed up the company’s shares by US$38.33 or 34.4% to US$149.67 apiece.

Potash Corp.’s board is urging shareholders to reject BHP’s bid and said it was in talks with several other companies for a more attractive offer. Of those, Bloomberg News has reported that China’s Sinochem Group and Brazil’s Vale have made initial inquiries. The buzz about Potash Corp. sent prices of other potash producers up too, including Mosaic, which advanced US$5.44 to US$56.64 per share (the second-biggest value gainer). Mosaic was the third most active stock.

Randgold Resources posted the third-largest value gain of the week, adding US$4.75 to reach US$90.63 apiece. Earlier this month, the African-focused company reported a profit increase of 52% for the quarter ended June 30 over the previous quarter, and a 92% increase over the year-ago quarter. Its profits for the six months were up 88% year-on-year. Randgold raised its production guidance at the Tongon gold mine in Cote d’Ivoire by about 10%, because commissioning of the plant is ahead of schedule. It also said it hopes to bring forward by six months to mid-2011 the start of building its Kibali gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On the negative side of the ledger were BHP Billiton, down US$3.84 to US$67.44 per share, and SinoCoking Coal, which posted the largest drop of the week, with a decline of US$4.35 per share to US$12.33.

U.S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s) HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash C Sask* POT	105354 149.87	110.57	149.67	+ 38.33
Alcoa* AA	99928 11.07	10.45	10.57	-0.07
Mosaic* MOS	49583 58.46	50.81	56.64	+ 5.44
Freeport McMo* FCX	42660 74.30	70.26	71.37	+ 1.30
Barrick Gold* ABX	30312 45.75	43.20	44.78	+ 1.86
Kinross Gold* KGC	26599 15.86	14.86	15.48	+ 0.32
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	25973 65.00	58.30	61.28	+ 2.79
Newmont Mng* NEM	24149 60.23	57.02	58.02	+ 1.30
Goldcorp* GG	23901 43.04	39.91	41.89	+ 2.25
Hecla Mining* HL	22671 5.21	4.88	4.95	+ 0.11

U.S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s) HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash C Sask*	POT	105354 149.87	110.57	149.67	+ 34.4
Vista Gold*	VGZ	5261 2.00	1.50	1.95	+ 32.6
Legend Intl H*	LGDI	1220 0.77	0.60	0.76	+ 26.6
Am Engy Field*	AEFI	117 0.64	0.48	0.62	+ 24.0
DouglasLkMl*	DLKM	355 0.13	0.10	0.12	+ 20.0
Quaterra Res*	QMM	208 1.54	1.24	1.46	+ 18.7
Uranium Res*	URRE	1738 0.62	0.50	0.58	+ 18.3
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	25 0.40	0.34	0.40	+ 17.6
Fronteer Gold*	FRG	4599 7.56	6.26	7.37	+ 16.4
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	31 0.23	0.19	0.23	+ 15.0
Apolo Gold*	APLL	208 0.02	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Affinity Gold*	AFYG	994 0.19	0.05	0.11	-35.2
Elray Res*	ELRA	3179 0.06	0.04	0.04	-33.3
SinoCoking Cl*	SCOK	946 16.99	10.01	12.33	-26.0
Li3 Energy*	LIEG	625 0.38	0.26	0.28	-24.3
America West*	AWSR	224 0.10	0.06	0.07	-22.2
Lake Vict Mng*	LVCA	281 0.30	0.24	0.26	-16.1
Pac Rim Minin*	PMU	1540 0.21	0.16	0.17	-15.0
Cream Mnrls*	CRMXF	91 0.09	0.06	0.06	-14.2
Pediment Gold*	PEZGF	70 1.24	1.10	1.10	-12.0

U.S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash C Sask* POT	105354208	149.67	+ 38.33
Mosaic* MOS	49583373	56.64	+ 5.44
Randgold Res* GOLD	2586896	90.63	+ 4.75
Soc Quim&M Ch* SQM	4145476	43.12	+ 3.69
AllianceRsP* ARLP	500939	53.50	+ 3.25
Royal Gold* RGLD	2639799	48.89	+ 3.09
Seabridge Gld* SA	2194319	28.36	+ 3.06
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	25972885	61.28	+ 2.79
Allied Nevada* ANV	783235	22.00	+ 2.51
Goldcorp* GG	23901203	41.89	+ 2.25
SinoCoking Cl* SCOK	945776	12.33	-4.35
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	10935433	56.65	-3.89
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP	22234490	67.44	-3.84
Consol Energy* CNX	17914533	34.11	-2.21
Puda Coal* PUDA	152240	8.34	-0.93
Harmony Gold* HMY	13138462	10.06	-0.83
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	16004461	44.92	-0.71
MDU Res* MDU	2484315	18.41	-0.60
Westmoreland* WLB	69523	9.42	-0.35
US Energy* USEG	729859	4.29	-0.31