U.S. MARKETS (February 04, 2008)

The U.S. markets breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the Jan. 22-28 trading period, as expectations ran high that the Federal Reserve would slash its key interest rate to 3% after its Jan. 30 meeting.

The session started out with a massive emergency cut to the target overnight rate to 3.5% from 4.25%. It was the biggest cut since 1982 and was also the first time since 2001 that the Fed reduced the rate after an unscheduled meeting. And while the Jan. 30 meeting will be the last for two months, that doesn’t rule out another emergency cut in the meantime, as investors watch the market with unease.

Over the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.4% or 284.59 points to 12,282.89, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 2.2% or 28.77 points to 1,353.96.

The gold price rose US$50.50 to US$921.75 per oz., while the Amex Gold Bugs Index was lifted 31.13 points to 467.93 and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index gained 11.17 points to close at 188.47.

The most actively traded stock over the period was Vale, with more than 209 million shares changing hands and closing US$1.03 higher at US$85.30. The Brazilian iron ore giant, which swallowed up Inco, has been evaluating whether it should also bid for Swiss-based Xstrata–worth about US$60 billion.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Goldand Barrick Gold were Nos. 2 and 3 on the most active list, though they came nowhere close to Vale, with 99 million and 85 million shares traded, respectively.

After hitting a 52-week low of US40 per share, Puda Coal gained the most on a percentage basis, up nearly 47% to US70.5 a share on no news.

Alpha Natural Resources was second

with a 33% jump to US$36.61, followed by Paramount Gold and Silver, up 30.2% to US$2.54, after releasing drill results from its San Miguel project in Mexico. The area drilled was chosen because of strong channel- sample grades that averaged 9 metres of

4.22 grams per tonne gold equivalent.

The biggest loss for the period went to AngloGold Ashanti, which fell US$3.34 to US$41.75. The company is offering US$150 million in depository shares for Golden Cycle Gold.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	( 000s) HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	209323 29.43	24.00	27.80	– 1.03
Freeport McMo* FCX	99008 88.51	68.96	85.30	+ 1.17
Barrick Gold* ABX	85315 53.93	45.00	53.57	+ 6.84
Alcoa* AA	78551 31.89	26.69	31.47	+ 2.37
Newmont Mng* NEM	72922 55.27	48.59	55.22	+ 2.34
Kinross Gold* KGC	65982 23.91	18.74	22.54	+ 2.14
Coeur d Alene* CDE	54419 4.74	4.05	4.62	+ 0.01
Goldcorp* GG	53792 39.74	31.86	38.38	+ 3.90
Potash C Sask* POT	53075 140.06	105.52	139.54	+ 16.76
Gold Fields* GFI	50578 16.85	14.46	15.05	– 1.33

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		( 000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Puda Coal*	PUDC	2878	0.71	0.40	0.705	+ 46.8
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	16849	33.15	21.92	32.61	+ 33.0
Paramount Gld*	PZG	1054	2.60	1.80	2.54	+ 30.2
McKenzie Bay*	MKBY	545	0.014	0.01	0.013	+ 30.0
Birch Mountn*	BMD	972	0.76	0.53	0.76	+ 28.8
Massey Energy*	MEE	17573	37.30	26.22	36.64	+ 28.6
Tara Gold*	TRGD	1227	0.47	0.30	0.455	+ 28.1
CONSOL Energy*	CNX	26409	77.23	53.63	76.16	+ 27.3
Fording C C T*	FDG	13566	44.21	31.29	43.21	+ 26.3
Stillwater Mg*	SWC	10967	10.80	7.42	10.21	+ 25.5
Beeston Ent*	BESE	224	0.40	0.15	0.19	– 45.7
World Vent*	WVNTF	68	0.07	0.06	0.06	– 33.3
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	418	0.15	0.10	0.10	– 33.3
Trend Mng*	TRDM	859	0.02	0.014	0.015	– 31.8
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	46	0.29	0.20	0.23	– 20.6
Sparrowtech R*	SPMC	1010	0.035	0.012	0.032	– 20.0
Raven Gold*	RVNG	192	0.83	0.61	0.66	– 20.0
Geocom Res*	GOCM	49	0.15	0.145	0.15	– 18.9
Crystallex In*	KRY	26103	2.31	1.88	2.04	– 16.3
North Am En P*	NOA	471	12.85	10.65	10.88	– 16.2

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Potash C Sask* POT	53074591	139.54	+ 16.76
CONSOL Energy* CNX	26409288	76.16	+ 16.36
Soc Quim& M Ch* SQM	308000	165.23	+ 13.29
Mosaic* MOS	46945948	92.70	+ 12.68
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	44148563	59.30	+ 9.95
Fording C C T* FDG	13566108	43.21	+ 9.00
Agnico- Eagle* AEM	20457169	63.36	+ 8.38
Massey Energy* MEE	17572573	36.64	+ 8.16
Alpha Nat Res* ANR	16849287	32.61	+ 8.10
Arch Coal* ACI	28363943	43.16	+ 7.54
AngloGold Ash* AU	13162521	41.75	– 3.34
North Am En P* NOA	471200	10.88	– 2. 11
Gold Fields* GFI	50578290	15.05	– 1.33
Vale* RIO	209322742	27.80	– 1.03
Fronteer Dev* FRG	2327005	8.44	– 0.78
Harmony Gold* HMY	21053372	10.28	– 0.78
Denison Mines* DNN	646800	6.68	– 0.63
Anglo Americn* AAUK	10298484	24.97	– 0.56
Mag Silver* MVG	60900	13.41	– 0.55
Minefinders* MFN	1932679	11.87	– 0.50