US markets reverse course

In another typical display of these troubled times, U.S. markets reversed course to finish the Aug. 21-27 report period worse off than when they started.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 47.66 points, to 8,824.41, for a loss of 0.5% in value. Similarly, Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended 0.3% lighter, having slipped 2.61 points to 934.82.

However, like its peers to the north, American gold producer Newmont Mining hitched itself to gold to end US$1.44 ahead, at US$27.35. Several offshore producers were just as blissful: AngloGold‘s American Depository Receipts jumped US$1.54 to US$22.98; Durban Roodepoort Deep climbed US47 to US$3.55; and Ashanti Goldfields rose US28 to US$5.18.

Aluminum magnate Alcoa was the most active stock, ascending US91 on a volume of 14 million shares to US$26.70. The major placed another feather in its cap after learning that its Alumar alumina refinery and primary smelting operation in Sao Luis, Brazil, is being showcased at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The report was prepared by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

Also higher were Phelps Dodge, up US$2.28 to US$34.24, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, up US$1.37 to US$17.17. Both gained on copper’s appreciation in metal markets.