U. S. MARKETS MARCH 18-24

Stressed financial markets, tight credit conditions and a deepening housing contraction prompted U. S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on March 18 to concede on national television that yes, the U. S. economy was in decline. The U. S. Federal Reserve kicked off the March 18-24 trading session with a cut of three-quarters of a percentage point in the federal funds rate to 2.25% — the lowest since February 2005.

Despite the persistent barrage of bleak economic news, however, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to rise 155.98 points to 12,548.64, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 19.14 points to 1,349.88. So where are investors putting their money? A survey by Merrill Lynch showed that a majority of 193 fund managers polled were overweight cash in March.

Another safe haven of course has been gold. But even there the news wasn’t as good as it has been in recent trading sessions. The precious metal closed at US$918.40 per oz. on March 24, down from its March 18 close of US$981.30 per oz. The Amex Gold Bugs Index fell 50.97 points to 430.14, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index slid 21.78 points to close at 171.19.

Gold miners without exception all lost value. Minas Buenaventura, Peru’s largest publicly traded precious metals company, dropped US$15.86 a share to US$64.96. Agnico-Eagle Mines plummeted US$13.57 a share to US$66.17 and Barrick Goldcrashed US$10.38 to US$41.94. Newmont Mining fell US$7.92 to US$45.46 while Randgold Resources slid US$8.54 to US$43.81 and Lihir Gold slumped US$7.05 to US$32.69.

For the second week in a row, the stock that gained the most value was Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, an integrated producer of potassium nitrate, iodine and lithium carbonate, as well as specialty plant nutrition products and industrial chemicals. Its stock jumped US$9.08 to US$219.08.

But the good fortune of Sociedad Quimica was not replicated by other top performers in the agribusiness sector. Despite a boom in fertilizer prices, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan fell US$4.25 a share to US$150.80,while Mosaic Co. sank US$9.59 to US$93.32.

The big winners this trading session were iron ore miner and processor Cleveland-Cliffs, which climbed US$5.74 to US$116.94, and Massey Energy, which rose US$2.49 to US$34.94.

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Sparrowtech R*	SPMC	220	0.03	0.02	0.02	+ 66.6
HE-5 Res*	HRRN	3872	0.03	0.012	0.029	+ 45.0
World Vent*	WVNTF	71	0.14	0.12	0.14	+ 40.0
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	171	0.009	0.008	0.009	+ 28.5
US Mine Maker*	USMM	114	0.25	0.16	0.193	+ 20.6
Trend Mng*	TRDM	357	0.024	0.015	0.024	+ 20.0
Uranium Star*	URST	41	0.15	0.13	0.15	+ 15.3
FinMetal Mng*	FNMM	1114	0.10	0.068	0.077	+ 13.2
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	165	0.35	0.29	0.35	+ 12.9
Crystallex In*	KRY	17810	2.83	1.95	2.35	+ 12.9
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	885	0.11	0.06	0.07	-36.3
Fronteer Dev*	FRG	2243	6.642	4.26	4.65	-29.2
Wealth Minls*	WMLLF	169	0.75	0.551	0.56	-28.1
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	71	0.18	0.127	0.13	-27.7
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	76	0.275	0.20	0.21	-27.0
GoldMountain*	GMEX	64	0.08	0.055	0.055	-26.6
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	294	0.42	0.31	0.31	-25.3
NT Holding*	NTHH	29	0.065	0.045	0.045	-25.0
Beeston Ent*	BESE	30	0.16	0.15	0.16	-23.8
Puda Coal*	PUDC	1551	0.38	0.25	0.29	-23.6

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Soc Quim&M Ch*SQM	324157	219.08	+ 9.08
Cleveland-Cli* CLF	7522249	116.94	+ 5.74
Massey Energy* MEE	13522124	34.94	+ 2.49
Cabot Corp* CBT	2235576	28.33	+ 2.40
Fording C C T* FDG	6926769	51.60	+ 1.90
Mesabi Trust* MSB	492502	25.63	+ 1.05
Alpha Nat Res* ANR	10306257	38.09	+ 0.89
OM Group* OMG	4923004	55.18	+ 0.68
APEX Silver* SIL	3424621	12.16	+ 0.47
Intl Coal Gp* ICO	5611089	5.94	+ 0.44
Buenaventura* BVN	6869347	64.96	-15.86
ASA (Bermuda)* ASA	731946	76.71	-13.74
Agnico-Eagle* AEM	21304731	66.17	-13.57
Barrick Gold* ABX	64743423	41.94	-10.38
Rio Tinto* RTP	1372214	395.50	-10.25
Mosaic* MOS	32600971	93.32	-9.59
Randgold Res* GOLD	5409532	43.81	-8.54
Gold Mnrs ETF* GDX	21263719	46.97	-8.00
Newmont Mng* NEM	48465506	45.46	-7.92
Lihir Gold* LIHR	1364569	32.69	-7.05

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s) HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	111604 33.90	29.62	31.75	-0.41
CoeurdAlene*CDE	82245 4.50	3.65	3.88	-0.57
Alcoa* AA	73822 39.67	33.80	35.04	-2.06
Freeport McMo*FCX	65543 99.31	82.60	88.76	-5.85
Barrick Gold* ABX	64743 53.02	41.54	41.94	-10.38
Goldcorp* GG	53349 44.68	36.30	37.31	-6.91
Newmont Mng* NEM	48466 53.85	45.30	45.46	-7.92
PotashCSask* POT	42600161.25	136.50	150.80	– 4.25
Gold Fields* GFI	35792 16.40	14.12	14.29	-1.82
Kinross Gold* KGC	35002 26.26	20.49	21.17	-4.66