U.S. Markets August 14-20

While earlier in the week, Wall Street was pondering how un-gentle the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Ben Bernanke, could really be, the single most important figure on the U.S. financial scene finally offered some relief. On Aug. 17, Bernanke lowered the Reserve’s discount rate to banks by half a percentage point to 5.75.

The move, the most dramatic taken by the Fed to restore calm to the markets, was seen as an attempt to direct more cash to companies needing short-term financing while allowing the Fed to avoid an emergency reduction in its broader lending-rate target.

The reduction helped temper what was poised to be another miserable week for American markets. Bernanke’s move helped the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index finish the Aug. 14-20 trading session down just 7.37 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 115.18 points to finish at 13,121.35.

The three big diversified miners all felt the effects of Bernanke’s decision immediately. BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce were all nose-diving into Aug. 16, only to right themselves and come back up after the announcement.

BHP shares had fallen to US$51.60, but the world’s biggest miner managed to regain what it lost and finished the period as it began, at US$57.54 per share. Rio started the period at US$250.00, and fell to the US$233.00 before recovering to US$245.18 per share. CVRD, which began the week at US$42.34 per share, saw its stock trade as low as US$38.00 before closing at US$40.83.

Despite falling copper prices, Bernanke’s relief was also good news for the big copper plays, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold and Southern Copper.

Freeport was trading around the US$73-mark before the announcement. Its shares recovered and were trading at US$81.58 at presstime. Southern Copper fell from US$95.00 to US$84.00, before beginning to climb again, finishing the period at US$95.19.

Bernanke’s action, however, failed to bail out the country’s gold sector. The falling price of the yellow metal helped bring the Amex Gold Bugs Index down 8%, or 28.09 points, to 312.65. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index was also off 8%, or 11.09 points, at 131.96.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	120	0.012	0.007	0.012	+	20.0
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	430	3.20	2.75	3.20	+	18.0
Cusac Gold Mn*	CUSIF	45	0.175	0.15	0.175	+	15.1
Rubicon Mnls*	RBY	428	1.80	1.53	1.74	+	14.4
Anooraq Res*	ANO	659	2.67	2.40	2.59	+	13.1
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	34	1.21	1.10	1.21	+	12.9
Wealth Minls*	WMLLF	26	2.37	2.14	2.37	+	10.7
Geocom Res*	GOCM	19	0.21	0.18	0.21	+	10.5
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	556	0.90	0.82	0.877	+	10.3
Crystallex In*	KRY	5744	2.97	2.60	2.92	+	9.7
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	22	0.07	0.07	0.07	–	12.5
Clifton Mng*	CFTN	45	0.38	0.35	0.35	–	12.5
Evolving Gold*	EVOGF	20	0.373	0.35	0.35	–	11.3
Uranium Star*	URST	168	0.33	0.275	0.29	–	9.3
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	476	0.29	0.26	0.265	–	8.6
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	1384	0.012	0.011	0.012	–	7.6
Pac Gold*	PCFG	16	0.175	0.163	0.163	–	6.8
Kimber Res*	KBX	210	0.81	0.65	0.70	–	6.6
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	147	69.70	66.61	68.25	–	6.7
Trend Mng*	TRDM	235	0.048	0.039	0.045	–	6.2

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Potash C Sask*	POT	2825300	79.16	+	3.46
Freeport McMo*	FCX	13545707	79.96	+	3.06
Mosaic*	MOS	2598900	38.73	+	2.76
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	5124410	56.52	+	1.72
Agrium*	AGU	733600	39.53	+	1.71
Rio Tinto*	RTP	407900	246.41	+	1.71
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	968900	64.12	+	1.62
Barrick Gold*	ABX	6899800	31.87	+	1.35
Alumina Inc*	AWC	107900	20.99	+	1.32
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	1987900	39.51	+	1.15
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	147400	68.25	–	4.90
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	5831198	40.92	–	0.56
Seabridge Gld*	SA	662100	24.73	–	0.49
Royal Gold*	RGLD	494378	29.50	–	0.49
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	791400	33.23	–	0.37
Buenaventura*	BVN	493000	35.56	–	0.28
Arch Coal*	ACI	2546000	30.48	–	0.26
Tanz Roy Exp*	TRE	489300	5.26	–	0.24
OM Group*	OMG	999000	40.99	–	0.23
Silver Std Re*	SSRI	955655	28.43	–	0.19

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Alcoa*	AA	19134	34.40	33.50	34.32	+	1.03
CVRD*	RIO	16184	41.50	39.04	40.32	+	0.22
Freeport McMo*	FCX	13546	80.72	77.15	79.96	+	3.06
Goldcorp*	GG	12482	22.47	21.28	21.62	–	0.05
Newmont Mng*	NEM	7115	40.47	39.17	39.88	–	0.01
Barrick Gold*	ABX	6900	32.36	30.75	31.87	+	1.35
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	5831	42.00	40.22	40.92	–	0.56
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	5809	3.49	3.36	3.45	+	0.10
Crystallex In*	KRY	5744	2.97	2.60	2.92	+	0.26
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	5124	56.94	55.00	56.52	+	1.72