U.S. Markets december 12-18

While the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached record-breaking highs during the busy holiday retail season, many gold, metals and coal companies reported losses for the trading period Dec. 12-18.

The S&P 500 rose to 1,427.09 points on Dec. 15, its highest ever, though it closed at 1,422.48 on Dec. 18 with a gain of 9.44 for the period.

The Dow Jones set a record at 12,445.52 points on Dec. 15, but closed at 12,441.27 at the end of the session, rising 112.79 points overall for the week.

Meanwhile, the NASDAQ lost 7.29 points, closing at 2,435.57, but not before hitting a peak of 2,457.20 on Dec. 15 — its highest since 2001.

The NASDAQ also made a US$5.3-billion hostile bid for the London Stock Exchange during the session, whose board flat out rejected it. Shareholders have until Jan. 11 to tender their shares for US$24.49 apiece. The NASDAQ already holds 28.5% of the London exchange and needs only a simple majority of just over 50% to take control. The deadline can be extended to Feb. 10.

Among the golds, Newmont Mining, which was the most-active stock with 22.4 million shares traded, closed US74 lower at US$46.57. AngloGold Ashanti also lost ground, closing US$1.14 lower at US$45.67, while Gold Fields fell US24 to US$17.92.

In the base metals, bhp billiton dropped us92 to us$39.48, companhia vale do rio doce lost us37, closing at us$29.10 and freeport-mcmoran copper & gold was down us$1.10 at us$58.75. Cvrd and freeport were also among the most active, with 29.7 million and 16.7 million shares traded, respectively.

The u.S. Mint fears rising metals prices could spur widespread recycling of pennies and nickels and has thus banned melting or exporting them. The value of some older pennies is us2.13, while nickels are currently worth us7; there are 150 billion pennies and 20 billion nickels in circulation. Violating the ban could result in a us$10,000 fine and up to five years in jail.

Shares in explorer apex silver fell us$1.32 to us$15.25, while metalline mining lost us22 to us$3.99 and mines management slid us44 to us$5.11.

u.S. Greatest percentage change

		volume(000s)	high	low	close	change
Mckenzie bay*	mkby	5988	0.26	0.10	0.205	+89.8
He-5 res*	hrrn	22	0.55	0.39	0.55	+37.5
World vent*	wvntf	185	0.14	0.10	0.14	+27.2
Apolo gold*	apll	1084	0.068	0.051	0.067	+24.0
Rubicon mnls*	rby	1547	1.40	0.89	1.30	+20.3
Huntmountain*	hntm	114	0.80	0.63	0.685	+17.0
Magnus intl r*	mgnu	223	0.72	0.57	0.65	+16.0
Apollo gold*	agt	1028	0.51	0.44	0.51	+13.3
Peru copper*	cup	1205	3.80	3.32	3.80	+10.1
Yanzhou coal*	yzc	190	41.60	37.67	40.95	+9.1
Exeter res*	xra	671	2.64	1.47	1.63	-38.2
Cream mnrls*	crmxf	48	0.59	0.354	0.354	-35.0
Equitable mng*	eqbm	14179	0.011	0.006	0.008	-20.0
Pac rim minin*	pmu	888	1.21	0.93	0.96	-18.6
Lafayette mng*	lymgf	410	0.06	0.05	0.05	-16.6
Diamond discv*	dmdd	1238	0.006	0.004	0.005	-16.6
Nt holding*	nthh	16	0.275	0.25	0.25	-16.6
Coral gold*	cgref	13	3.40	2.93	2.99	-15.0
Queenstake rs*	qee	2848	0.22	0.17	0.18	-14.2
Us energy*	useg	546	5.58	4.70	4.80	-13.5

U.S. greatest value change

VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	171100	137.00	+4.15
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	190100	40.95	+3.43
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	7390300	39.72	+0.84
Royal Gold*	RGLD	1242716	33.78	+0.68
Peru Copper*	CUP	1205100	3.80	+0.35
Fronteer Dev*	FRG	1119400	8.64	+0.30
Mesabi Trust*	MSB	137400	25.31	+0.26
Teck Comin B*	TCK	537600	77.87	+0.25
Intl Royalty*	ROY	49100	5.20	+0.23
Rubicon Mnls*	RBY	1546900	1.30	+0.22
NACCO Ind*	NC	76700	141.22	–	.28
Potash C Sask*	POT	2383700	134.67	-5.92
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	18131600	42.17	-4.70
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	2491100	33.63	-3.77
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	6070800	33.71	-2.89
Arch Coal*	ACI	8847500	31.97	-2.72
Massey Energy*	MEE	5565400	24.55	-2.59
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	2551600	45.45	-2.54
OM Group*	OMG	2268300	46.16	-2.39
Alcan*	AL	4217900	48.14	-2.25

U.S. most active issues

			VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Newmont Mng*	NEM	22418	47.77	46.53	46.57	-0.74
Goldcorp*	GG	19730	29.48	27.23	27.47	-2.09
CVRD*	RIO	19714	30.10	28.67	29.10	-0.37
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	18132	46.71	42.05	42.17	-4.70
Alcoa*	AA	18006	31.22	30.22	30.42	-0.63
Freeport McMo*	FCX	16686	60.46	58.15	58.75	-1.10
Silverado*	SLGLF	16169	0.071	0.064	0.07	+0.002
Barrick Gold*	ABX	14707	31.02	29.71	30.18	-0.31
Equitable Mng*	EQBM	14179	0.011	0.006	0.008		0.002
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	12102	0.012	0.01	0.011		0.00