U. S. MARKETS JULY 22-28

First the good news: The price of crude oil — which has doubled over the last year — seems to be easing somewhat. Crude has declined about US$23 from its record high of US$147.27 a barrel earlier this month. The national average retail price of U. S. gasoline has also dropped below US$4 a gallon for the first time in eight weeks, according to a Reuters report.

But the good news failed to really filter through the U. S. markets over the July 22-28 trading session, with investors still paralyzed with fears of a significant and possibly prolonged economic downturn, worrisome inflation, a depressed housing market and job uncertainty. Those sentiments seemed to drag down the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which sank 471.42 points or 4.1% to close at 11,131.08. The S&P 500 Index fell 42.63 points or 3.3% to 1,234.37.

Bleak performances were the norm across all sectors, including gold. The AMEX Gold Bugs Index contracted 5.1%, or 22.31 points, to close at 410.19. All the majors stumbled, with Goldcorp losing US$5.17 to close at US$40.95 per share; Barrick Gold sliding US$4.08 to US$44.20 and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold crashing US$11.43 to US$95.58.

The markets didn’t appear to take kindly to Kinross Gold’s bid to acquire Aurelian Resources and its enormous Fruta del Norte gold project in Ecuador. While Kinross would gain a world-class deposit at a bargain price, the country has yet to ratify a new mining law and uncertainty remains about the future of mining in the South American nation. Shares in the Torontobased company fell US$4.74 to US$18.84 apiece.

And despite coal prices being well up over last year, even Peabody Energy, the world’s largest private-sector coal company, took a hit, dropping US$2.65 to US$66.58 per share.

On July 28, the coal producer made public that it had reached an agreement to take another 15% of the Millennium coal mine in Queensland, Australia, and plans to take the remaining 5% in the near future. Peabody already had an 84.5% stake in the mine. Peabody plans to take production at the Millennium mine to 3 million tonnes per year, with the bulk of the coal going to India, Korea and Japan.

Even fertilizer companies, the stock market darlings of 2008, were licking their wounds. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan plummeted US$24.10 to US$198.65, Mosaic Co. sank US$16.39 to US$122.66, and Agrium lost US$14.87 to US$84.75.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s) HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	160092 29.90	26.27	27.89	-2.01
Alcoa* AA	66438 34.15	31.20	32.66	-1.30
PotashCSask* POT	63400 223.15	186.84	198.65	-24.10
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	54085 69.25	60.58	66.58	-2.65
Freeport McMo*FCX	53209 104.99	93.82	95.58	-11.43
Goldcorp* GG	52287 46.88	39.53	40.95	-5.17
Barrick Gold* ABX	46409 49.62	42.57	44.20	-4.08
Kinross Gold* KGC	45715 24.08	18.10	18.84	-4.74
Newmont Mng* NEM	43490 50.86	46.60	49.11	-0.56
CoeurdAlene*CDE	39380 2.53	2.35	2.49	0.00

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s) HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Aspire Intl*	APIT	26 0.33	0.11	0.27	+107.6
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	65 0.35	0.12	0.35	+105.8
Raven Gold*	RVNG	708 0.15	0.07	0.14	+ 75.0
Birch Mountn*	BMD	1269 0.38	0.25	0.31	+ 19.2
Aurelio Res*	AULO	195 0.15	0.12	0.15	+ 15.3
America West*	AWSR	342 0.48	0.34	0.40	+ 14.2
IMA Expl*	IMR	94 0.34	0.30	0.34	+ 13.3
Canarc Res*	CRCUF	55 0.29	0.20	0.29	+ 11.5
Patriot Coal*	PCX	4162134.95	108.30	134.70	+ 11.4
Linux Gold*	LNXGF	56 0.11	0.09	0.11	+ 10.0
Buckingham Ex*	BUKX	120 0.12	0.04	0.04	-66.6
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	282 0.05	0.03	0.03	-40.0
Crystallex In*	KRY	9698 0.92	0.65	0.68	-25.2
Silverado*	SLGLF	11499 0.04	0.02	0.03	-25.0
Minera Andes*	MNEAF	1873 1.20	0.91	0.95	-23.3
Geocom Res*	GOCM	65 0.12	0.07	0.10	-23.0
New Gold*	NGD	1045 7.98	5.62	6.10	-21.6
Kinross Gold*	KGC	45715 24.08	18.10	18.84	-20.1
Gemini Expl*	GXPI	414 0.05	0.04	0.04	-20.0
Fischer-W Gld*	FWGO	61 0.04	0.04	0.04	-20.0

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Patriot Coal*	PCX	4161700	134.70	+ 13.87
Fording C C T*	FDG	13245087	82.49	+ 2.39
Westmoreland*	WLB	313948	23.07	+ 1.19
Cabot Corp*	CBT	3863630	25.13	+ 0.52
Corriente Rs*	ETQ	343635	4.30	+ 0.29
Uranium Res*	URRE	2932112	2.91	+ 0.21
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	65050	0.35	+ 0.18
Aspire Intl*	APIT	26176	0.27	+ 0.14
Quest Capital*	QCC	1342733	1.57	+ 0.07
Augusta Res*	AZC	266100	6.53	+ 0.07
Potash C Sask*	POT	63399608	198.65	-24.10
Rio Tinto*	RTP	1196681	402.68	-18.32
Mosaic*	MOS	34456557	122.66	-16.39
Agrium*	AGU	5603400	84.75	-14.87
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	21355031	58.86	-12.66
Freeport McMo*	FCX	53208515	95.58	-11.43
Intrepid Pots*	IPI	2799900	50.00	-9.82
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	11508889	60.53	-9.34
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	21536240	88.91	-8.34
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	733222	75.00	-7.75