U. S. Markets – Jan. 20-26

U. S. President Barack Obama’s first week in the Oval Office did not calm the jitters on Wall Street. The markets continued to lose ground over the Jan. 20-26 trading period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 165 points, or nearly 2%, to 8,116 points, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index shed 13.6 points, or 1.6%, to close at 837.

Meanwhile, gold rallied 9% to US$910 per oz., up from US$833, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index, also up 9%, closed at 125 points.

Gold companies did well as a result: Newmont Mining gained US$5.54 to US$43.37, Agnico-Eagle Mines rose US$4.39 to US$54.84, and Barrick Gold added US$3.95 to its share price, finishing the period at US$38.22.

The most actively traded stocks were the base metals producers.

Vale closed US20¢ higher at US$13.16 on a trading volume of 165 million shares. The company has cut back production, shutting down its higher-cost, lower-quality output mines, adjusting to demand levels. Vale reported that in the fourth quarter, it chopped iron ore production by 26% from the third quarter, and is continuing the cuts into 2009. Still, the company set annual production records for eight different metals — nickel (275,400 tonnes), bauxite (11.7 million tonnes), alumina (5 million tonnes), copper (311,600 tonnes), coal (4.1 million tonnes), cobalt (2,828 tonnes), palladium (231,000 oz.), and gold (85,000 oz.).

Alcoa slid US$1.08 to US$13.16 per share. The company announced that it was cutting 220 positions at its Davenport Works plant in Riverdale, Iowa, where it manufactures aluminum sheet and plate for use in the aerospace and defence industries, and in cars and trucks.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold shares gained US54¢ to close at US$24.94 on a trading volume of 131 million shares. The company reported a net loss of US$13.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with a profit of US$414 million in the fourth quarter of 2007. A weak global economy forced the company to slash production this year — copper sales are expected to be 9% lower at 3.9 billion lbs. while molybdenum sales are estimated to fall by 25% to 60 million lbs.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	165340	13.71	11.80	13.16	+ 0.20
Alcoa* AA	152577	9.31	7.90	8.35	-1.08
Freeport McMo*FCX	130964	26.29	21.16	24.94	+ 0.54
Kinross Gold* KGC	100963	19.53	16.66	17.59	-0.30
Barrick Gold* ABX	97866	40.90	33.83	38.22	+ 3.95
Goldcorp* GG	86552	30.82	25.41	28.97	+ 2.61
PotashCSask*POT	62861	78.33	66.12	76.80	+ 4.46
Newmont Mng* NEM	53580	45.45	37.95	43.37	+ 5.54
Silver Wheatn* SLW	48765	7.48	5.80	6.96	+ 0.81
Gold Fields* GFI	47404	10.37	8.01	9.86	+ 1.63

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Linux Gold*	LNXGF	303	0.08	0.04	0.08	+100.0
Industrl Mnls*	IDSM	299	0.04	0.03	0.03	+ 50.0
Uranium Star*	URST	683	0.12	0.06	0.09	+ 50.0
NovaGold Res*	NG	24103	2.75	1.41	2.66	+ 44.5
Intl Tower Hi*	THM	459	2.15	1.51	2.09	+ 35.7
Richmont Mine*	RIC	601	2.61	1.80	2.39	+ 33.5
Vista Gold*	VGZ	1454	1.98	1.29	1.95	+ 32.6
Midway Gold*	MDW	81	0.59	0.40	0.57	+ 32.5
Aurizon Mines*	AZK	2728	3.90	2.75	3.68	+ 31.9
Claude Res*	CGR	946	0.55	0.35	0.47	+ 30.5
Bullion Monar*	BULM	81	0.12	0.10	0.10	-54.5
Buckingham Ex*	BUKX	65	0.02	0.01	0.01	-50.0
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	70	0.03	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	944	0.28	0.12	0.19	-32.1
Aurelio Res*	AULO	414	0.15	0.07	0.07	-30.0
China Shen Zh*	SHZ	36	0.55	0.20	0.39	-27.7
Lundin Mng*	LMC	2172	1.01	0.66	0.77	-26.6
Strata O&G*	SOIGF	105	0.19	0.14	0.14	-26.3
World Vent*	WVNTF	103	0.03	0.01	0.03	-25.0
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	367	0.06	0.05	0.06	-25.0

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Newmont Mng*	NEM	53579589	43.37	+ 5.54
Potash C Sask*	POT	62861198	76.80	+ 4.46
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	33792968	54.84	+ 4.39
Barrick Gold*	ABX	97866316	38.22	+ 3.95
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	271959	48.93	+ 3.38
Goldcorp*	GG	86551623	28.97	+ 2.61
Intrepid Pots*	IPI	1612100	22.36	+ 2.36
Royal Gold*	RGLD	4306092	45.82	+ 2.25
Silver Std Re*	SSRI	7723729	19.54	+ 1.72
Pan Am Silver*	PAAS	10105963	17.47	+ 1.67
BHP B illi-BHP*	BHP	25629498	38.02	-2.43
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	6346469	33.66	-2.07
Mesabi Trust*	MSB	563553	9.32	-1.71
AlumCpChina*	ACH	2082600	10.83	-1.22
Alcoa*	AA	152576737	8.35	-1.08
Anglo Americn*	AAUK	14967610	9.26	-0.97
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	14123423	16.62	-0.92
Arch Coal*	ACI	29563258	15.84	-0.91
Cabot Corp*	CBT	2367168	14.54	-0.85
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	15896381	16.28	-0.68