U.S. MARKETS -JUNE 7-11

Comments from the World Bank that a double-dip recession cannot be ruled out, and nagging worries about the debt crisis sweeping Europe, caused U.S. markets to seesaw in the first three days of the June 7-11 trading week.

U.S. equities ended the week up for a second straight day on Friday, however, despite disappointing economic news that sales at U.S. retailers had fallen in May for the first time in eight months. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,211.07 points, up 4.02%, while the S&P 500 index rose 3.92% to finish at 1,091.60. The Nasdaq climbed 3.21% to 2,243.60. Gold closed the week at US$1,227.50 per oz., while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index gained 3.06 points to 175.31.

A Reuters story on June 11 quoting Australia’s Herald-Sun saying that the Australian government “plans to announce major changes” to its proposed Resource Super Profits Tax “in coming days,” sent shares of BHP Billiton up US$5.57 to US$65.28 and Rio Tinto US$3.41 higher to US$47.29. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has refuted suggestions that the government would make changes to the proposed tax.

Cliffs Natural Resources ranked first in the list of value gains with an increase of US$6.75 per share to US$55.97. The iron ore giant revealed on June 7, that while it remained firmly committed to its previous offer for Spider Resources, which expires on July 6, it is reviewing its options about whether to make a formal offer for KWG Resources.

That’s because a day after Cliffs announced it was informally bidding for KWG, the junior said it was entering into a binding letter of agreement to merge with Spider. Cliffs is trying to win control of the Big Daddy chromite deposit in northern Ontario.

Finally, junior explorer Elray Resources topped the charts with an advance of 200% or US2¢ to US14¢ per share on no news. In April, Elray confirmed that the “infrastructure was in place” to develop its Picacho property in southeastern Ecuador. Elray also owns Porphyry Creek, a gold-copper property about 290 km north of Phnom Penh.

U.S. most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	123052	11.39	10.49	11.36	+ 0.52
Freeport McMo* FCX	85654	65.54	58.24	64.93	+ 2.12
Barrick Gold* ABX	50572	44.60	41.13	43.11	+ 1.69
Silverado* SLGLF	50102	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Hecla Mining* HL	43529	5.40	4.96	5.31	+ 0.29
Newmont Mng* NEM	41583	57.61	53.30	56.25	+ 2.64
Goldcorp* GG	40381	45.33	41.94	43.71	+ 1.48
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	38126	56.18	47.70	55.97	+ 6.75
Crystallex In* KRY	37591	0.77	0.41	0.45	-0.10
Vale* VALE	34166	27.09	24.67	27.03	+ 1.49

U.S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Elray Res*	ELRA	350	0.14	0.02	0.12	+ 200.0
Apolo Gold*	APLL	207	0.04	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
Affinity Gold*	AFYG	906	0.05	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Nevsun Res*	NSU	5128	3.69	2.86	3.52	+ 19.7
Fronteer Gold*	FRG	5593	6.95	5.81	6.75	+ 15.7
Mesabi Trust*	MSB	382	19.30	16.14	19.20	+ 15.0
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	2135	0.98	0.77	0.84	+ 15.0
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	38126	56.18	47.70	55.97	+ 13.7
Harry Winston*	HWD	467	13.94	11.92	13.81	+ 13.3
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	1208	0.37	0.32	0.37	+ 12.1
Amazon Goldsd*	AZNG	27	0.40	0.12	0.12	-61.2
Tornado Gold*	TOGI	81	0.02	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	42	0.03	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Global Gold*	GBGD	126	0.12	0.09	0.09	-25.0
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	20	0.06	0.04	0.04	-20.0
Crystallex In*	KRY	37591	0.77	0.41	0.45	-18.1
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	228	0.33	0.28	0.28	-17.6
Strata O&G*	SOIGF	210	0.33	0.26	0.28	-15.1
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	133	0.08	0.05	0.06	-14.2
Crosshair E&M*	CXZ	215	0.14	0.12	0.12	-14.2

U.S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	38125911	55.97	+ 6.75
Potash C Sask*	POT	24707463	100.62	+ 5.78
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	26581129	65.28	+ 5.57
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	14776950	54.94	+ 4.58
Compass Mnls*	CMP	575100	77.81	+ 4.38
Consol Energy*	CNX	23178201	38.88	+ 3.74
Rio Tinto*	RTP	18455828	47.29	+ 3.41
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	33605010	39.78	+ 3.10
Teck B*	TCK	33167316	33.81	+ 2.90
Lihir Gold*	LIHR	866549	35.70	+ 2.87
OM Group*	OMG	1303201	27.43	-0.79
Intrepid Pots*	IPI	2321200	22.44	-0.56
SinoCoking Cl*	SCOK	159065	13.58	-0.40
Westmoreland*	WLB	231818	8.83	-0.28
Amazon Goldsd*	AZNG	27000	0.12	-0.19
Intl Tower Hi*	THM	173496	6.48	-0.14
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	1866596	1.18	-0.14
Vista Gold*	VGZ	1677761	1.77	-0.11
Crystallex In*	KRY	37590842	0.45	-0.10
Entree Gold*	EGI	1061906	1.91	-0.07