U.S. Markets May 16-22

Sharp declines in the early part of the reporting period May 16-22 socked stock markets in the United States, and the mining stocks suffered a large part of the damage. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was down 27.42 points, to 1,262.07, a loss of 2.1% on the five trading days, while almost all metal producers lost ground.

Musings from the Federal Reserve Bank’s chairman, Ben Bernanke, that the Bank might hold the line on further interest-rate increases shook confidence in the dollar, rather than bolstering confidence in the equity markets. The result was one of the steepest drops in the U.S. stock markets in three years.

At the same time, gold lost a toehold on the wall of worry, and bullion prices plunged US$42 per oz. between the afternoon fix on May 18 and the corresponding session on May 19. That was a cold shower for gold equities, which had been beaten up the previous week in any event.

The senior gold stocks all fell, with Gold Fields, down US$2.65 at US$20.55, taking the worst tumble in proportion to value. Newmont Mining fell US$3.47 to US$50.84, AngloGold Ashanti US$3.20 to US$47.10, and Harmony Gold Mining US76 to US$13.29.

The middle tier of gold producers, which took most of the punishment last week, lost ground again. Minas Buenaventura slid US$2.57 to US$24.73 and Hecla Mining fell back US27 to US$4.81.

In the midst of the chaos, the white goods stayed strong for most of the period; platinum was down only US$15 and palladium US$19, with most of that decline on the last day of the period. Nobody told Stillwater Mining, which fell another US$1.30 to US$13.60 and seems to have broken out of a year-long uptrend.

The big base metal producers had a bad week too, headed by Southern Peru Copper, which saw 16% of its market value chopped; it fell US$13.40 to US$81.90. Comparable misery was dealt out to Anglo American, which was off US$2.77 at US$18.45, while Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold slid US$7.23 to US$54.27 and Phelps Dodge dropped US$9.76 to US$79.49.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
Centrl Minera*	CENMF	32	0.05	0.04	0.04	+33.3
Campbell Res*	CBLRF	1736	0.21	0.166	0.205	+12.6
Geocom Res*	GOCM	66	0.43	0.34	0.43	+10.2
World Vent*	WVNTF	70	0.26	0.21	0.24	+9.0
Canyon Res*	CAU	902	1.20	0.95	1.13	+8.6
Contintl Mnls*	KMKCF	732	1.99	1.52	1.90	+8.5
Bullion Rvr G*	BLRV	1257	0.95	0.81	0.90	+8.4
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	212	0.39	0.303	0.39	+8.3
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	682	7.01	6.14	7.01	+5.8
Caledonia Mng*	CALVF	5616	0.171	0.145	0.169	+5.6
Lafayette Mng*	LYMGF	200	0.10	0.05	0.05	-44.4
Tara Gold*	TRGD	2420	0.48	0.315	0.329	-32.7
Trend Mng*	TRDM	3256	0.27	0.17	0.185	-31.4
Crested Corp*	CBAG	292	2.95	2.01	2.01	-30.4
US Energy*	USEG	1785	7.25	4.79	5.00	-30.1
Polymet Mng*	POMGF	2913	4.47	2.86	3.09	-28.1
Coral Gold*	CGREF	191	4.66	2.55	3.20	-27.2
Uranerz Engy*	URNZ	418	2.69	1.82	1.96	-25.7
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	2238	1.95	1.53	1.55	-23.6
Goldcorp wtA*	GG.WS.A	29	7.50	5.80	6.10	-23.6

U.S. greatest value change

		Volume	Close	Change
Falconbridge*	FAL	2148400	48.95	+1.91
Fording C C T*	FDG	3243900	33.80	+0.85
Central Gld-T*	CLGLF	16400	25.367	+0.647
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	681600	7.01	+0.39
Puda Coal*	PUDC	164034	4.49	+0.19
Peru Copper*	CUP	4009600	3.95	+0.15
Contintl Mnls*	KMKCF	731772	1.90	+0.15
Kimber Res*	KBX	607200	2.45	+0.12
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	431792	2.00	+0.09
Canyon Res*	CAU	901800	1.13	+0.09
Rio Tinto*	RTP	2320000	205.00	-20.67
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	7310400	73.11	-17.28
Southern Peru*	PCU	10119900	81.90	-13.40
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	24991300	54.10	-11.15
Phelps Dodge*	PD	31710400	79.49	-9.76
Lihir Gold*	LIHRY	513470	39.57	-9.60
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	9609700	81.51	-7.27
Freeport McMo*	FCX	29422100	54.27	-7.23
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	5054500	43.68	-6.47
Alcan*	AL	15235200	46.85	-5.81

U.S. most active issues

		Volume(000s)	High	Low	Close	Change
UNICO Inc*	UNCN	1311266	0.003	0.002	0.003	0.00
AuGrid*	AUGC	93297	0.001	1.0E8	0.001	0.00
Goldspring*	GSPG	78048	0.018	0.011	0.013	-0.003
Goldcorp*	GG	37632	34.65	28.40	30.20	-3.70
Newmont Mng*	NEM	36620	55.09	48.85	50.84	-3.47
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	36168	5.35	4.51	4.71	-0.46
Phelps Dodge*	PD	31710	91.85	77.15	79.49	-9.76
Alcoa*	AA	30835	33.89	30.19	31.15	-2.32
CVRD*	RIO	30155	53.05	43.69	45.76	-5.74
Freeport McMo*	FCX	29422	62.95	52.21	54.27	-7.23