U.S. Markets – Jan. 27 -Feb. 2

U. S. President Barack Obama’s US$825-billion stimulus bill may have passed the House of Representatives — its first legislative hurdle — but the news failed to lift the prevailing gloom in the markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 237.9 points or 3% during the Jan. 27-Feb. 2 reporting period to 7,936.83 –its lowest closing level so far this year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 20.27 points or 2.5% to close at 825.44.

Bad economic news continued to dominate. On Jan. 30, the Commerce Department said the U. S. economy shrank at a rate of 3.85% in the fourth quarter, the worst contraction in 27 years. The data also revealed that business investment in the fourth quarter fell 19.1%, the biggest drop since the first quarter of 1975. Prices for single-family homes in the U. S. collapsed a year-on-year 18.2% in November. And private economic research group the U. S. Conference Board is forecasting an unemployment rate of at least 9% by the end of the year.

Even traditional safe havens like gold took a beating during the period. The Amex Gold Bugs index fell 6.4 points or 2.2% to 289.32, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index slid 2.7 points or 2.3% to 119.72. Agnico-Eagle Mines suffered the biggest loss in the gold space, falling US$4.67 per share to close at US$50.17. Newmont Mining was a close second, dropping US$4 per share to US$39.237.

The only noteworthy exception was Allied Nevada Gold–still basking in its Jan. 6 announcement that it has become Nevada’s newest gold producer. The company expects its Hycroft mine to achieve annualized production rates of about 90,000 oz. gold by July. Allied Nevada rose US$1.24 per share to US$5.20. The other exception was Royal Gold, a precious metals royalty company, which climbed US$1.16 per share to US$46.98.

Peabody Energy enjoyed the biggest value gain, rising US$1.77 per share to US$25.61. Rio Tinto posted the second-highest gain, climbed US$1.57 per share to US$90.07 on news it had reached an agreement to sell potash assets in Argentina and Canada, and Brazilian iron ore to Vale.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	204638	15.16	13.32	14.08	+ 0.92
Alcoa* AA	112061	9.00	7.53	7.69	-0.66
Freeport McMo*FCX	111262	28.38	24.22	24.59	-0.35
Newmont Mng* NEM	91841	43.50	37.02	39.37	-4.00
Barrick Gold* ABX	76819	39.50	35.53	35.99	-2.23
Goldcorp* GG	75234	30.37	27.17	28.44	-0.53
Kinross Gold* KGC	64088	18.47	16.57	17.14	-0.45
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	55086	28.39	23.97	25.61	+ 1.77
Gold Fields* GFI	54054	11.24	9.47	10.49	+ 0.63
Golden Eagle* MYNG	46709	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
World Vent*	WVNTF	34	0.06	0.03	0.06	+100.0
Central Sun M*	SMC	692	0.71	0.44	0.65	+ 80.5
Miranda Gold*	MRDDF	165	0.29	0.22	0.29	+ 31.8
Allied Nevada*	ANV	230	5.20	3.89	5.20	+ 31.3
US Gold*	UXG	1180	2.00	1.36	1.79	+ 28.7
Aurelio Res*	AULO	102	0.10	0.07	0.09	+ 28.5
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	144	0.23	0.18	0.23	+ 27.7
Bullion Monar*	BULM	150	0.14	0.10	0.14	+ 27.2
Caledonia Mng*	CALVF	719	0.06	0.05	0.05	+ 25.0
NovaGold Res*	NG	28091	3.83	2.40	3.29	+ 23.6
Uranium Star*	URST	440	0.10	0.06	0.06	-40.0
Canarc Res*	CRCUF	81	0.07	0.06	0.07	-36.3
Apolo Gold*	APLL	215	0.02	0.01	0.02	-33.3
Teck B*	TCK	19281	5.10	3.57	3.63	-20.9
Metalline Mng*	MMG	40	0.38	0.28	0.28	-20.0
Thompson Crk*	TC	1388	4.50	3.68	3.76	-18.2
Augusta Res*	AZC	112	0.65	0.46	0.47	-17.5
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	33823	0.83	0.66	0.68	-17.0
Lundin Mng*	LMC	3259	0.83	0.64	0.64	-16.8
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	39	0.08	0.04	0.05	-16.6

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	55086095	25.61	+ 1.77
Rio Tinto* RTP	7602478	90.07	+ 1.57
Allied Nevada* ANV	229900	5.20	+ 1.24
Royal Gold* RGLD	3775841	46.98	+ 1.16
Foundatn Coal* FCL	8566395	16.30	+ 1.00
Vale* RIO	204638445	14.08	+ 0.92
CONSOL Energy* CNX	26469158	26.87	+ 0.90
Gold Fields* GFI	54054414	10.49	+ 0.63
NovaGold Res* NG	28090502	3.29	+ 0.63
Soc Quim&M Ch*SQM	3477064	27.38	+ 0.45
Agnico-Eagle* AEM	33432851	50.17	-4.67
Newmont Mng* NEM	91840535	39.37	-4.00
Potash C Sask* POT	43042718	73.68	-3.12
Intrepid Pots* IPI	983700	19.85	-2.51
Barrick Gold* ABX	76819070	35.99	-2.23
Cabot Corp* CBT	3580269	12.88	-1.66
Southern Copp* PCU	24114174	13.70	-1.46
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	14530926	22.21	-1.28
Arch Coal* ACI	39991582	14.64	-1.20
Seabridge Gld* SA	1185491	12.95	-1.10