U.S. Markets – June 2-8

A run-up in the markets since early March has buoyed hopes of a recovery, but the economic picture remains clouded and many strategists believe a correction could be in store. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 23.6 points or 0.3% to close the June 2-8 reporting period at 8,764.49, while the S&P 500 index lost 5.6 points or 0.6% to 39.14.

At a forum in Montreal on June 8, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn repeated his outlook for a global economic recovery in early 2010, with the turnaround beginning in September and October of 2009. But he warned that the biggest risk to his forecast is a failure in some countries to purge toxic assets from their banking systems quickly enough, and emphasized that the threat of runaway inflation is a very real concern.

On the precious metals front, the gold spot price moved from its US$981.10 per oz. close on June 2 to US$950.70 at the end of the reporting period. The Amex Gold Bugs index fell 30.97 points or 7.8% during the session to 398.10, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index lost 10.1 points or 6.3% to close at 151.08.

Goldcorp dipped US$2.73 to close at US$36.17 per share, while Barrick Gold dropped US$1.33 to close at US$36.56. Agnico-Eagle Mines fell US$3.53 to US$58.08, while Newmont Mining fared even worse, diving US$3.76 to US$44.66 per share.

Rio Tinto was the big newsmaker of the week, walking away from a US$19.5-billion deal with Chinese metals group Chinalco in favour of a US$15.2-billion rights issue and an iron ore joint-venture with BHP Billiton. Rio shares gained on the news, but lost US$11.58 overall during the reporting period to close at US$190 per share.

Teck gained US26¢ to US$17.56 per share on news that it had closed a private placement of US$4.23 billion of five, seven and ten-year senior secured notes and is using the proceeds to repay borrowings under its existing credit facility, reducing its outstanding balance to US$603 million.

Potash producers lost value: Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan dropped US$4.45 to US$111.94, Mosaic Co. fell US$4.21 to US$51.76 and Agrium slid US$3.07 to US$45.94.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	190173	11.33	9.77	10.77	+ 0.25
Freeport McMo*FCX	65009	58.45	52.10	56.48	-0.40
Goldcorp* GG	43376	38.20	34.84	36.17	-2.73
Hecla Mining* HL	42230	3.46	2.88	2.96	-0.52
Barrick Gold* ABX	35684	38.05	35.09	36.56	-1.33
Teck B* TCK	35386	17.85	15.31	17.56	+ 0.26
Golden Eagle* MYNG	31605	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Silver Wheatn* SLW	31036	10.97	9.73	10.18	-0.69
Vale* VALE	30595	20.17	18.46	19.57	-0.50
Newmont Mng* NEM	30273	48.19	43.40	44.66	-3.76

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Silverado*	SLGLF	27563	0.02	0.01	0.02	+100.0
Dominion Mnls*	DMNM	127	1.00	0.06	0.20	+ 66.6
Cream Mnrls*	CRMXF	36	0.09	0.07	0.09	+ 50.0
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	1704	0.04	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	16	0.05	0.05	0.05	+ 25.0
Uranium Ener*	UEC	587	2.52	1.82	2.47	+ 23.5
Midway Gold*	MDW	196	0.89	0.65	0.89	+ 18.6
Keegan Res*	KGN	267	3.64	3.25	3.64	+ 17.4
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	12	0.07	0.07	0.07	+ 16.6
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	241	2.90	2.20	2.90	+ 16.4
First Majestc*	FRMSF	506	2.66	2.02	2.12	-21.1
Endeavr Silvr*	EXK	265	2.39	1.85	1.93	-18.5
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	683	0.06	0.04	0.05	-16.6
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	21	0.26	0.25	0.25	-16.6
Almaden Mnls*	AAU	504	0.94	0.72	0.76	-16.4
Entree Gold*	EGI	458	1.25	1.00	1.03	-16.2
Mechel*	MTL	8183	11.50	9.70	10.09	-15.3
Bullion Monar*	BULM	542	0.81	0.54	0.61	-15.2
Hecla Mining*	HL	42230	3.46	2.88	2.96	-14.9
North Am Pall*	PAL	3414	2.75	2.31	2.36	-14.8

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
North Am En P*	NOA	178800	8.11	+ 0.62
Allied Nevada*	ANV	374300	8.07	+ 0.54
Keegan Res*	KGN	267100	3.64	+ 0.54
Uranium Ener*	UEC	586900	2.47	+ 0.47
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	240914	2.90	+ 0.41
Teck B*	TCK	35385613	17.56	+ 0.26
Alcoa*	AA	190173305	10.77	+ 0.25
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	6317069	5.68	+ 0.22
Alumina Inc*	AWC	1501646	4.63	+ 0.17
Midway Gold*	MDW	196200	0.89	+ 0.14
Rio Tinto*	RTP	8299438	190.00	-11.58
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	289512	65.90	-6.16
Potash C Sask*	POT	27473826	111.94	-4.45
Mosaic*	MOS	25103147	51.76	-4.21
Newmont Mng*	NEM	30272545	44.66	-3.76
Royal Gold*	RGLD	2624414	44.10	-3.66
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	15033010	58.08	-3.53
Randgold Res*	GOLD	7538704	70.85	-3.11
Agrium*	AGU	2885800	45.94	-3.07
Lihir Gold*	LIHR	1184479	24.20	-3.04