U.S. Markets Oct. 23-29

Equity markets in the U.S. continued their rebound over the reporting period Oct. 23-29, nearly returning to the levels they were at before the US$2-billion quarterly loss posted by Merrill Lynch creamed stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Oct. 29 at 13,870.26, up 303.29 points or 2.2% of value from a week before; the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 2.3%.

But much of that buying support rested on the opinion that the Federal Reserve Bank would be looking to push more liquidity, possibly with another half-point interest rate cut, and that feeling sent the U.S. dollar lower. That was good for gold, in turn, and sent bullion prices up by US$37.25, to US$788.50 per oz.

There was joy in the gold indexes over that: the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index racked up a gain of 15.77 points, or 9.3%, to finish at 185.46; and the Amex Gold Bugs Index vaulted 34.13 points, 8.7% of value, to 428.68. Among U.S.-listed mining stocks generally, advancers outnumbered decliners 150 to 38.

Newmont Mining rose US$2.70 to US$47.67, and announced it had filed a preliminary prospectus to float a revived Franco Nevada Mining, which, cashed up by the public offering, would take over the Newmont royalty portfolio. AngloGold Ashanti was US$2.73 higher at US$45.69. With the rising loonie doubling the whammy of the gold price, practically all the Canadian interlisted stocks touched new highs, including Barrick Gold, up US$3.73 to US$44.06, Kinross Gold, up US$2.51 at US$19.19, and Goldcorp, up US$3.57 at US$34.48.

Among the big offshore base metal producers, only Anglo American did not register a 52-week high trade, but it still gained US$3.49 to finish at US$34.80. Rio Tinto traded at US$376.40, closing US$38.34 higher at US$372.64; Companhia Vale do Rio Doce traded at US$37.66, and closed US$4.44 higher at US$37.17; and BHP Billiton traded at US$87.43, closing up US$6.39 at US$87.33, with its more thinly traded BLT shares up US$5.38 at US$78.26.

The big copper producers came close to earlier 52-week high trades: Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold jumped US$11.13 to US$117.86, while Southern Copper added US$11.55 to finish at US$141.35.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Samex Mng*	SMXMF	2704	1.53	0.85	1.42	+	68.8
Campbell Res*	CBLRF	1834	0.23	0.15	0.23	+	65.4
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	516	0.19	0.13	0.19	+	58.3
Tara Gold*	TRGD	5140	0.815	0.46	0.795	+	57.4
HE-5 Res*	HRRN	69	0.17	0.12	0.17	+	41.6
Capital Gold*	CGLD	7445	0.65	0.447	0.62	+	37.1
Nevsun Res*	NSU	1868	2.38	1.62	2.23	+	35.9
Vista Gold*	VGZ	2798	6.84	5.10	6.75	+	33.6
Anooraq Res*	ANO	6543	5.63	4.10	5.59	+	30.0
Idaho Gen Mn*	GMO	3987	9.88	7.79	9.80	+	26.9
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	559	0.32	0.20	0.24	–	27.2
Puda Coal*	PUDC	4261	1.97	1.255	1.46	–	21.0
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	1213	0.01	0.005	0.008	–	20.0
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	635	0.20	0.16	0.17	–	19.0
Bullion Rvr G*	BLRV	911	0.285	0.225	0.23	–	17.8
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	5666	0.011	0.009	0.01	–	16.6
Uranium Star*	URST	736	0.40	0.32	0.32	–	15.7
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	52	0.14	0.11	0.12	–	14.2
GoldMountain*	GMEX	2618	0.23	0.14	0.21	–	8.7
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	41	0.31	0.26	0.28	–	6.6

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	2332400	372.64	+	38.34
Potash C Sask*	POT	31658900	121.47	+	14.29
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	319300	200.25	+	14.25
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	601300	113.48	+	12.41
Southern Copp*	PCU	9086900	141.35	+	11.55
Freeport McMo*	FCX	49409995	117.86	+	11.13
Mosaic*	MOS	24956903	69.66	+	9.57
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	23934089	57.67	+	7.68
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	17115199	56.73	+	7.07
Agrium*	AGU	3759900	61.48	+	7.06
Cabot Corp*	CBT	1626500	35.86	–	0.56
Puda Coal*	PUDC	4260953	1.46	–	0.39
North Am En P*	NOA	293300	18.02	–	0.35
Aber Diamond*	ABER	95765	42.31	–	0.27
Golden Star*	GSS	34057468	3.64	–	0.14
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	136400	1.32	–	0.09
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	558662	0.24	–	0.09
Strata O&G*	SOIGF	1134825	1.35	–	0.08
Uranium Star*	URST	736031	0.32	–	0.06
Birch Mountn*	BMD	1293100	1.52	–	0.06

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
CVRD*	RIO	122149	37.66	32.21	37.17	+	4.44
Alcoa*	AA	51398	40.70	37.60	40.43	+	2.70
Freeport McMo*	FCX	49410	119.25	107.80	117.86	+	11.13
Golden Star*	GSS	34057	3.90	3.38	3.64	–	0.14
Barrick Gold*	ABX	31875	44.80	40.61	44.06	+	3.73
Potash C Sask*	POT	31659	123.14	97.36	121.47	+	14.29
Goldcorp*	GG	31456	34.49	31.12	34.48	+	3.57
Newmont Mng*	NEM	31408	48.25	44.80	47.67	+	2.70
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	30660	78.32	74.63	78.12	+	3.52
Crystallex In*	KRY	28904	3.50	2.52	3.35	+	0.55