U.S. Markets – Jan. 6-12

Many are wondering how far the bailout package in the United States will go in fixing the economy. Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, says the US$700-billion stimulus should help revive the economy but won’t be enough over the long term. He says stronger supervisory and regulatory systems are needed but shouldn’t sacrifice the benefits of financial innovation and market discipline.

The comments come as the markets appear to be stabilizing after drastic losses in November. However, they showed no signs of returning to the good old days. Gains during the last trading period were pretty much wiped out over the Jan. 6-12 session as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.3%, or 479 points and the S&P 500 index dropped 6.1%, or 57 points to 870 points.

The biggest losses in stock prices were much more substantial than the gains. Rio Tinto shares fell US$9.11 to US$92.44, compared with the mining giant’s 52-week high of US$558.65. Weaker copper prices have prompted the company, which plans to reduce its US$38.9-billion debt by US$10-billion by the end of this year, to suspend the expansion of its 80%-owned Northparkes copper mine in New South Wales, Australia, saving US$229 million. In the meantime, investors are nervously awaiting the company’s quarterly results after learning that aluminum rival Alcoa reported a loss of US$1.19 billion, and is cutting 13,500 jobs due to falling commodity prices and demand. Alcoa had the second highest volume over the period with more than 130 million shares changing hands. The stock lost US$1.80 to close at US$10.06.

Vale was the volume leader with 170 million shares traded, closing at US$12.75. A UBS Pactual report said Vale’s iron ore exports will likely fall 17% this year to 270 tonnes, but forecast growth in 2010.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Goldshares fell US$2.78 to close at US$25.44. A Bloomberg report says the company has agreed to pay 60% higher processing fees to Jiangxi Copper, including US$75 per tonne for smelting ore and US7.5¢ per lb. for refining.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	170150	15.25	12.55	12.75	-1.35
Alcoa* AA	130480	12.33	9.75	10.06	-1.80
Freeport McMo*FCX	117425	31.44	25.13	25.44	-2.78
Barrick Gold* ABX	79879	34.70	30.79	31.14	-3.21
Goldcorp* GG	73345	30.39	24.74	24.99	-4.24
PotashCSask*POT	59320	87.14	73.17	74.09	– 8.53
Mosaic* MOS	56203	41.15	33.86	34.56	-3.11
Newmont Mng* NEM	45924	40.08	34.75	35.91	-2.91
Kinross Gold* KGC	45214	18.67	16.51	16.74	-0.99
Silver Wheatn* SLW	42637	6.68	5.43	5.56	-0.69

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	109	0.02	0.01	0.02	+100.0
Aurelio Res*	AULO	774	0.06	0.02	0.04	+100.0
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	198	0.10	0.03	0.08	+100.0
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	291	0.28	0.19	0.27	+ 68.7
Strata O&G*	SOIGF	462	0.25	0.14	0.20	+ 66.6
China Shen Zh*	SHZ	43	0.64	0.36	0.55	+ 57.1
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	821	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
World Vent*	WVNTF	20	0.03	0.02	0.03	+ 50.0
Silver Res*	SLVV	94	0.28	0.17	0.21	+ 40.0
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	49	0.30	0.22	0.30	+ 36.3
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	502	0.19	0.11	0.12	-36.8
Crystallex In*	KRY	10342	0.37	0.18	0.20	-33.3
Crosshair E&M*	CXZ	603	0.27	0.15	0.16	-33.3
Fischer-W Gld*	FWGO	39	0.03	0.02	0.02	-33.3
Midway Gold*	MDW	73	0.54	0.36	0.41	-30.5
Caledonia Mng*	CALVF	1358	0.07	0.05	0.05	-28.5
Patriot Coal*	PCX	2988	8.92	5.73	5.83	-28.4
Augusta Res*	AZC	41	0.92	0.61	0.62	-27.9
Stillwater Mg*	SWC	5581	5.60	4.10	4.12	-24.9
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	871	1.10	0.70	0.71	-23.6

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Soc Quim&M Ch*SQM	5805502	26.21	+ 0.91
Seabridge Gld* SA	1331995	12.92	+ 0.57
Mag Silver* MVG	82600	5.09	+ 0.54
US Energy* USEG	293026	2.07	+ 0.38
Silver Std Re* SSRI	7972828	16.48	+ 0.33
Vista Gold* VGZ	1522856	1.47	+ 0.23
China Shen Zh* SHZ	42800	0.55	+ 0.20
Corriente Rs* ETQ	254989	3.46	+ 0.13
Golden Star* GSS	12507795	1.19	+ 0.12
Banro Res* BAA	264545	1.21	+ 0.12
Rio Tinto* RTP	9254323	92.44	-9.11
Potash C Sask* POT	59320336	74.09	-8.53
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	21416174	24.74	-5.96
Agrium* AGU	3419200	31.98	-5.42
Royal Gold* RGLD	3966875	41.16	-5.13
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP	24654380	40.85	-4.71
CONSOL Energy* CNX	20799310	28.97	-4.69
Buenaventura* BVN	8353904	15.68	-4.56
Goldcorp* GG	73344684	24.99	-4.24
Randgold Res* GOLD	5590440	36.76	-4.11