U.S. Markets Nov. 6-12

The screaming you heard came from United States equity markets during the reporting period Nov. 6-12. Weak earnings results, and further revelations of writedowns in asset-backed debt by financial institutions, made the stock markets hesitant; Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told the U.S. Congress that falling housing prices and rising oil prices could bring about a slowdown in the U.S. economy. That was bad for stocks and the U.S. dollar, but good for gold and crude oil prices.

By Nov. 12, that had been thrown into reverse, as hedge funds and speculators took profits out of commodities markets and commodity-linked currencies, sending the U.S. dollar back up and markets — even further down. At the close on Nov. 12, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 12,987.55, down 555.85 points or 4.1% over the period.

The gold equities, which had bounded higher in the first few days, fell sharply after bullion prices peaked on Nov. 8 at US$841.10 per oz. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index was down 14.47 points at 172.14, a 7.8% loss, while the Amex Gold Bugs Index was down 6.6%. Spot gold bullion lost US$28 on Nov. 12, finishing at US$803.50 per oz.

So in spite of a string of new 52-week highs made by the gold equities, most of them finished with losses on the week. Newmont Mining was US$2.48 lower at US$49.86, though it had traded as high as US$56.35; Barrick Gold was down US$4.14 at US$41.90, having traded at US$47.72; and Goldcorp fell US$3.41 to US$32.35, touching a high of US$38.11.

Mid-tier gold producers fared a little better. Hecla Mining was up US70 at US$10.50, Coeur d’Alene Mines rose US29 to US$4.13 on a volume of 113 million shares, and in the white-goods business, Stillwater Mining was up US38 at US$9.88 even though platinum (down US$62.50 at US$1,402 per oz.) and palladium (down US$7.50 at US$366 per oz.) had taken a worse hit than gold.

Copper miners suffered the double hit of pessimism about U.S. housing markets and a shakeout in the Chinese stock market that spread fears the East may not be quite as red-hot as commodity bulls had thought. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold shares fell US$10.92 to US$99.25, while Southern Copper was off US$20.15 at US$103.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	539	0.44	0.22	0.40	+	66.6
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	12771	0.016	0.011	0.015	+	50.0
FinMetal Mng*	FNMM	754	0.30	0.21	0.30	+	42.8
Trend Mng*	TRDM	743	0.044	0.03	0.042	+	40.0
Raven Gold*	RVNG	1033	0.90	0.47	0.88	+	39.6
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	244	0.008	0.006	0.008	+	33.3
World Vent*	WVNTF	23	0.18	0.12	0.18	+	28.5
Gemini Expl*	GXPI	27234	0.215	0.126	0.151	+	26.8
Silver Dragon*	SDRG	3073	1.05	0.69	0.85	+	25.0
Rio Tinto*	RTP	8260	484.21	356.10	435.87	+	24.0
Beeston Ent*	BESE	11	0.51	0.35	0.35	–	31.3
HE-5 Res*	HRRN	569	0.10	0.05	0.07	–	30.0
Strata O&G*	SOIGF	1228	1.28	0.86	0.91	–	28.9
Dejour Enterp*	DEJ	81	2.21	1.66	1.66	–	24.2
Vista Gold*	VGZ	3124	7.87	5.65	5.75	–	22.8
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	2168	1.00	0.766	0.78	–	21.2
Orezone Res*	OZN	2144	1.79	1.27	1.28	–	20.9
Samex Mng*	SMXMF	1571	1.64	1.199	1.23	–	20.6
Denison Mines*	DNN	369	13.71	10.53	10.80	–	18.8
Gammon Gold*	GRS	5321	11.86	8.36	8.36	–	18.6

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	8259729	435.87	+	84.41
AngloGold Ash*	AU	12467154	44.66	+	1.80
Anglo Americn*	AAUK	7917509	33.45	+	1.63
Hecla Mining*	HL	26283968	10.50	+	0.70
DRDGOLD*	DROOY	1995791	8.82	+	0.58
Stillwater Mg*	SWC	4966177	9.88	+	0.38
Gold Fields*	GFI	45691383	17.74	+	0.33
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	112539225	4.13	+	0.29
Raven Gold*	RVNG	1033400	0.88	+	0.25
Northgate Mnl*	NXG	20845356	3.32	+	0.21
Southern Copp*	PCU	16072088	103.00	–	20.15
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	862120	79.03	–	17.63
Potash C Sask*	POT	21166453	103.42	–	15.90
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	350523	167.01	–	15.74
Freeport McMo*	FCX	65585406	99.25	–	10.92
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	41293842	71.00	–	8.58
Agrium*	AGU	3772500	53.34	–	8.36
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	7778128	76.70	–	8.01
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	13554813	48.31	–	7.88
Seabridge Gld*	SA	2321915	29.72	–	6.81

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
CVRD*	RIO	141530	38.32	32.59	32.85	–	2.69
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	112539	4.61	3.97	4.13	+	0.29
Newmont Mng*	NEM	66001	56.35	49.51	49.86	–	2.48
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	65725	83.63	78.25	78.30	–	1.45
Freeport McMo*	FCX	65585	114.24	97.42	99.25	–	10.92
Alcoa*	AA	63358	39.35	35.69	35.87	–	2.03
Barrick Gold*	ABX	51445	47.72	41.75	41.90	–	4.14
Goldcorp*	GG	47728	38.11	32.27	32.35	–	3.41
Gold Fields*	GFI	45691	19.60	17.58	17.74	+	0.33
BHP Billi-BH P*	BHP	41294	84.00	71.00	71.00	–	8.58