U. S. Markets – Feb. 17-23

Broad U. S. equity indices fell heavily during the Feb. 17-23 reporting period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 736 points or 9.4% to 7,115, and the S&P 500 index lost 84 points or 10.1% to 743, both 12-year lows. And the Nasdaq, which stood above 5,000 in March 2000, dropped 147 points, or 9.6%, to 1,388. What triggered the latest declines were fears about the health of U. S. banks, as well as a report from CNBC, predicting that insurance giant American International Group would need more sizable government help.

The only ray of light in the market were precious metal stocks, and even this sector was mixed, with the Amex Gold Bugs index up 5 points, or 1.6%, to 316, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index down 3 points, or 1.9%, to 128.

With rising inventories on London Metals Exchange warehouses, base metal prices fell. Nickel prices lost 8% on the week, copper and aluminum prices dropped by 6%, and zinc prices declined 5%. But precious metal prices climbed on safe-haven buying, with silver adding 6.8%, and gold 4.8%.

Firm precious metal prices allow gold and silver miners to raise capital, and a number of these companies are taking advantage. One of the largest equity issues came from Kinross Gold, which completed a US$415-million offering on Feb. 5. Kinross shares fell US58¢ to US$18.33 during the period.

The potash sector lost altitude, with leader Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan down US$9.82 to US$76.24, Mosaic Co. off US$6.99 to US$35.89, Agrium falling US$3.79 to US$36.73, and Intrepid Potash losing US$4.17 to US$19.82. The declines came despite potash prices remaining at record highs, with spot potash fetching US$872.50 per tonne in Vancouver.

With the spot price of uranium oxide declining US$2 to US$45 per lb., Cameco fell US$2.55 to US$12.95, Denison Mines dropped US16¢ to US$1, and Uranium Resources lost US21¢ to US50¢.

Gold Reserve, which was granted a court injunction stopping a hostile takeover bid by Rusoro Mining, fell US34¢ to US69¢.

Minefinders, having inaugurated the Dolores gold-silver mine in Mexico, jumped US$1.65 to US$6.50.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	270663	15.46	11.88	12.00	-4.10
Alcoa* AA	141228	7.30	5.80	5.81	-1.67
Freeport McMo*FCX	130445	29.69	26.13	26.34	-4.17
Barrick Gold* ABX	86478	39.29	35.28	35.60	-2.34
CoeurdAlene*CDE	76357	0.84	0.70	0.81	+0.10
Goldcorp* GG	72300	32.91	30.45	30.78	-0.97
PotashCSask*POT	69232	86.65	76.19	76.24	– 9.82
Silver Wheatn* SLW	61619	7.63	6.28	7.32	+ 0.17
Newmont Mng* NEM	58906	45.00	40.64	42.39	+ 0.81
Kinross Gold* KGC	55266	19.64	17.84	18.33	-0.58

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Apolo Gold*	APLL	303	0.03	0.02	0.03	+200.0
Dominion Mnls*	DMNM	13	0.35	0.12	0.35	+ 75.0
Augusta Res*	AZC	130	0.95	0.46	0.71	+ 51.0
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	472	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
Minera Andes*	MNEAF	1770	0.63	0.41	0.58	+ 45.0
Uranium Star*	URST	441	0.07	0.05	0.07	+ 40.0
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	48	0.11	0.06	0.11	+ 37.5
Minefinders*	MFN	5302	6.50	5.04	6.50	+ 34.0
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	26	0.15	0.09	0.12	+ 33.3
Mines Managem*	MGN	726	1.99	1.52	1.88	+ 31.4
Fischer-W Gld*	FWGO	86	0.04	0.02	0.02	-50.0
Westmoreland*	WLB	198	10.39	6.00	6.15	-41.5
Patriot Coal*	PCX	6099	4.58	3.03	3.09	-36.2
Tombstone Exp*	TMBXF	6192	0.26	0.10	0.13	-35.0
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	32	0.07	0.04	0.04	-33.3
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	38	0.05	0.03	0.04	-33.3
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	1249	1.15	0.56	0.69	-33.0
Harry Winston*	HWD	227	3.70	2.53	2.55	-29.7
Uranium Res*	URRE	1602	0.70	0.48	0.50	-29.5
Massey Energy*	MEE	25638	14.89	10.85	10.89	-29.3

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Royal Gold* RGLD	4332208	44.85	+ 2.35
Seabridge Gld* SA	3080614	18.62	+ 2.27
AngloGold Ash* AU	21383982	31.77	+ 2.13
Minefinders* MFN	5301558	6.50	+ 1.65
Randgold Res* GOLD	6041298	49.07	+ 1.29
Lihir Gold* LIHR	2560238	22.75	+ 1.26
Agnico-Eagle* AEM	30145272	54.75	+ 1.01
Tanz Roy Exp* TRE	2066418	4.69	+ 0.92
Eldorado Gold* EGO	18453171	9.34	+ 0.88
Buenaventura* BVN	10225625	21.31	+ 0.86
Rio Tinto* RTP	5851625	100.40	-10.60
Potash C Sask* POT	69232214	76.24	-9.82
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	19207163	19.76	-8.00
CONSOL Energy* CNX	22210263	24.54	-6.99
Mosaic* MOS	46595974	35.89	-6.99
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	53894310	22.00	-6.25
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP	26254152	36.85	-6.03
Alpha Nat Res* ANR	18300202	16.91	-5.62
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	7980769	31.94	-5.24
Massey Energy* MEE	25638211	10.89	-4.53