U.S. Markets – April 7-13

The U. S. economy, in recession since December 2007, is starting to show “glimmers of hope,” according to President Barack Obama, and that optimism was mirrored in the equity markets during the April 7-13 reporting period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 268.31 points or 3.4% to 8,057.81, while the S&P 500 index added 43.18 points or 5.2% to reach 858.73. The Nasdaq surged 91.7 points or 5.8% to 1,653.31.

In the precious metals sector, the gold spot price rose from the New York close of US$881.10 per oz. at the beginning of the week to US$892.60 per oz. at the end. The Amex Gold Bugs index advanced 4.7 points or 1.5% to 300.98, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index gained 0.77 of a point or 0.62% to 124.70. Lihir Gold climbed US$2.26 to US$22.27, while AngloGold Ashanti increased US$1.69 to US$32.68.

Firmer metal prices helped lift heavyweight mining stocks like Rio Tinto, which jumped US$12.28 to US$145.01 per share during the reporting period. Rio Tinto and fellow iron ore miners BHP Billiton, and Vale are all locked in annual talks with Asian steelmakers to settle contract prices of iron ore for the financial year started April 1.

Takeover talk, asset sales and the settlement of metallurgical coal contract prices combined to lift Teck shares US$2.12 to US$8.99 per share. The base metals miner traded higher on rumours that BHP Billiton was considering a takeover. An agreement with Royal Gold to sell an interest in gold production from the Andacollo mine in Chile also helped buoy its share price.

Official cash settlement prices for copper on the LME, which jumped from a low of US$1.26 per lb. on Dec. 26 to US$1.77 per lb. in late March to US$2.08 at presstime — well above average break-even costs of about US$1.36 per lb. — helped lift Freeport-Mc-MoRan Copper & Gold shares by US$3.84 to US$45.59 apiece. Rising demand in China may be one factor. China’s refined copper imports jumped 14% in March from the previous month to 374,960 tonnes, Bloomberg reported, citing preliminary data from China’s customs office. A shortage of scrap material and increased government buying is driving the import surge, the news agency said.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	219795	9.39	7.45	9.15	+ 1.24
Vale* RIO	124538	16.68	14.43	16.37	+ 1.45
Freeport McMo*FCX	71473	46.02	39.68	45.59	+ 3.84
Golden Eagle* MYNG	44679	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Barrick Gold* ABX	41976	29.70	28.27	28.71	-0.04
Mosaic* MOS	41334	46.73	40.38	44.25	-0.64
CoeurdAlene*CDE	41229	1.18	1.00	1.16	+0.12
Teck B* TCK	35684	9.14	6.36	8.99	+ 2.12
PotashCSask* POT	33584	88.49	77.14	88.01	+ 4.63
Goldcorp* GG	31991	31.31	29.35	29.98	-0.39

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	209	0.53	0.28	0.52	+ 67.7
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	46	0.15	0.10	0.15	+ 50.0
Beeston Ent*	BESE	2775	0.04	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
Dominion Mnls*	DMNM	106	0.18	0.09	0.18	+ 50.0
Aspire Intl*	APIT	58	0.10	0.05	0.10	+ 42.8
China Shen Zh*	SHZ	25	0.59	0.42	0.59	+ 40.4
North Am Pall*	PAL	2502	1.93	1.39	1.90	+ 31.9
Teck B*	TCK	35684	9.14	6.36	8.99	+ 30.8
Banro Res*	BAA	1208	2.09	1.42	2.07	+ 27.7
Harry Winston*	HWD	510	3.60	2.70	3.60	+ 25.4
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	711	0.03	0.02	0.02	-50.0
Global Gold*	GBGD	13	0.20	0.12	0.12	-40.0
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	70	0.10	0.07	0.07	-36.3
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	19	0.05	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	64	0.09	0.06	0.06	-33.3
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	152	0.21	0.10	0.14	-26.3
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	41	0.13	0.09	0.12	-20.0
America West*	AWSR	106	0.15	0.11	0.12	-20.0
Tanz Roy Exp*	TRE	2663	4.34	3.10	3.42	-19.5
Bullion Monar*	BULM	122	0.31	0.25	0.28	-15.1

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto* RTP	3317925	145.01	+ 12.28
Potash C Sask* POT	33583620	88.01	+ 4.63
Freeport McMo* FCX	71473304	45.59	+ 3.84
Southern Copp* PCU	20946363	21.12	+ 2.60
Soc Quim&M Ch*SQM	3522813	31.26	+ 2.38
Lihir Gold* LIHR	1196701	22.27	+ 2.26
Teck B* TCK	35684291	8.99	+ 2.12
AngloGold Ash* AU	8771673	32.68	+ 1.69
Seabridge Gld* SA	803233	21.55	+ 1.55
AlumCpChina* ACH	953200	19.12	+ 1.48
Royal Gold* RGLD	10050505	37.21	-3.31
Agnico-Eagle* A EM	12434566	49.06	-1.18
Tanz Roy Exp* TRE	2663168	3.42	-0.83
Randgold Res* GOLD	3334519	45.92	-0.77
Newmont Mng* NEM	21625634	42.08	-0.72
Kinross Gold* KGC	25292342	14.78	-0.71
Mosaic* MOS	41334370	44.25	-0.64
Goldcorp* GG	31991117	29.98	-0.39
Alumina Inc* AWC	3486234	4.10	-0.38
Mesabi Trust* MSB	169603	7.47	-0.37