U.S. Markets October 17-23

There was much enthusiasm over the Oct. 17-23 trading session, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 12,000 mark for the first time — and it did so on the anniversary of Black Monday, the infamous day in 1987 when the Dow suffered its second-biggest percentage drop in history.

Optimism was tied to earnings growth and signs of easing inflation moved the Dow nearly 3% higher. The S&P 500 gained 6.97 points to 1,372.02 over the session.

The U.S. dollar rallied over the period, causing gold prices to slump; the Amex Gold Bugs index was off 1.53 points to 304.53.

Peabody Energy was the most actively traded miner over the session, with roughly 19 million shares changing hands. The St. Louis, Mo.-based coal company finished the period down US15 to US$41.40. The company had made gains earlier in the session after announcing third-quarter gains of US$142 million, or US53 a share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from US$113.3 million, or US42 a share, in the same period a year ago.

Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) gained approval for its takeover of Inco under the Canada Investment Act, and announced it had secured almost 76% of Inco shares. It extended the expiry date for its $86-a-share offer to Nov. 3. Once completed, the deal will make CVRD the world’s second-largest mining company behind BHP Billiton. CVRD shares finished the period up US66 to US$24.28.

Alcoa, America’s largest aluminum producer, was the third most-active miner on the announcement of its third-quarter result. Its shares were off US3 to US$27.49 on roughly 17 million shares for the period. The company reported revenue of US$7.6 billion — up 19% from the same period last year — and the second-highest quarterly revenue in the company’s history.

The company also said it expects to get more than US$300 million in cash from the sale of its Home Exteriors vinyl siding business. Alcoa says it expects the underlying strengths of its markets to remain positive for the fourth quarter, with the exception of North American automotive and housing construction markets.

Both Entre Gold, up 40% to US$1.64 and Ivanhoe Mines, up 38% to US$9.00 made big gains in connection with Rio Tinto’s partnership plan at Oyu Tolgoi. Rio Tinto gained US$11.65 to US$214.21 after announcing it would team with Ivanhoe at the copper-gold project in Mongolia. If an investment agreement can be reached with the Mongolian company, the London-based miner can buy as much as 40% of Ivanhoe.

Oyu Tolgoi is one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper projects and could produce 1 billion lbs. copper and 330,000 oz. gold annually. Rio already has a stake in Entree Gold, which has a joint venture with Ivanhoe for the northern portion of the Hugo Dummett deposit.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	3238	0.23	0.065	0.185	+146.6
Liberty Star*	LBTS	13438	1.25	0.56	1.23	+123.6
Entree Gold*	EGI	544	1.77	1.26	1.64	+40.1
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	9313	9.52	8.06	9.00	+37.8
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	276	2.04	1.43	1.93	+36.8
Geocom Res*	GOCM	138	0.31	0.215	0.30	+30.4
Goldspring*	GSPG	14551	0.005	0.004	0.005	+25.0
Newgold*	NGLD	456	0.40	0.33	0.38	+18.7
Northw Min Vt*	NWTMF	1089	0.38	0.31	0.38	+18.7
World Vent*	WVNTF	34	0.14	0.11	0.13	+18.1
Pine Valley M*	PVMCF	2810	0.305	0.085	0.09	-70.0
Homeland Pr M*	HPMEF	137	0.85	0.55	0.55	-46.0
NT Holding*	NTHH	188	0.74	0.22	0.32	-41.8
Equitable Mng*	EQBM	10453	0.009	0.006	0.007	-22.2
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	365	2.25	1.43	1.66	-18.6
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	204	1.63	1.39	1.40	-13.5
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	90	1.74	1.31	1.44	-12.7
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	820	1.17	0.97	1.01	-11.4
Minefinders*	MFN	724	8.51	7.85	8.02	-10.7
Konigsberg*	KGBC	1390	0.22	0.17	0.17	-10.5

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	1336400	214.21	+11.65
Potash C Sask*	POT	1802500	114.16	+4.03
Aber Diamond*	ABER	89059	36.32	+3.15
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	9313400	9.00	+2.47
MDU Res*	MDU	1735800	25.06	+2.02
Teck Comin B*	TCK	236700	72.04	+1.82
Southern Peru*	PCU	5141000	52.79	+1.79
AngloGold Ash*	AU	3441600	40.67	+1.71
Alcan*	AL	6154000	43.33	+1.51
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	5558600	42.47	+1.38
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	6211500	34.44	-3.44
Minefinders*	MFN	723600	8.02	-0.97
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	2351500	57.76	-0.89
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	51500	125.55	-0.73
Royal Gold*	RGLD	666818	27.78	-0.73
Randgold Res*	GOLD	534851	21.39	-0.51
Buenaventura*	BVN	1412300	25.58	-0.47
Homeland Pr M*	HPMEF	137475	0.55	-0.47
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	2653700	15.03	-0.41
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	365493	1.66	-0.38

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
AuGrid*	AUGC	295306	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	18979	44.04	40.38	41.40	-0.15
CVRD*	RIO	17657	24.54	23.65	24.28	+0.66
Alcoa*	AA	17106	27.75	27.24	27.49	-0.03
Goldcorp*	GG	15983	23.99	22.43	23.12	+0.28
Arch Coal*	ACI	15241	34.45	31.33	32.44	+0.31
Newmont Mng*	NEM	14710	43.65	42.09	43.25	+0.01
Goldspring*	GSPG	14551	0.005	0.004	0.005	+0.001
Liberty Star*	LBTS	13438	1.25	0.56	1.23	+0.68
Phelps Dodge*	PD	12159	100.79	95.60	99.02	+1.27