U.S. Markets Sept. 22-28

All arrows seemed to point slightly down in U. S. equities during the Sept. 21-22 reporting period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 40.51 points or 0.4% to finish at 9,7789.36, while the S&P 500 index fell 8.68 points or 0.8% to close at 1,062.98. The Nasdaq fell 15.56 points or 0.7% to 2,130.74.

Even gold seemed to lose some of its shine. The Amex Gold Bugs index slid 29.72 points or 6.95% to finish at 398.09, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index fell 10.73 points or 6.32% to 159.13. Mag Silver was one of the few companies to buck the downward trend, rising US77¢ to US$5.78. Of the gold majors, Agnico-Eagle Mines posted the biggest drop — falling US$4.56 to US$64.27 per share.

On the positive side of the ledger was Mechel, one of Russia’s leading mining and metals companies. The company posted the largest gain, rising US$2.51 to US$17.86 per share. Over the last year, the diversified miner has been actively extending its reach into Asia, signing several large-scale and long-term contracts with Chinese, Japanese and South Korean companies that have allowed the company to better use its coking coal mining capacity. In late August, it became the first Russian mining company to set up a representative office in Seoul and earlier the same month signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japan’s Mitsui & Co.

OM Group advanced US$1.73 to US$31.30 on no news. The lift in its share price is a welcome reprieve for the company, which was hard hit by the financial crisis when prices and demand for its specialty chemicals plummeted.

In the first half of the year, the company posted net sales of US$395.1 million, down from US$991.6 million in the same period of 2008. Gross profit tallied just US$61 million compared with US$262.7 million in the first half of 2008. OM Group is the world’s leading producer of cobalt-based specialty chemicals and a leading supplier of nickel-based specialty chemicals.

American Uranium was also up — mounting US$1.05 to US$4 per share. In August, the company announced it was selling its stake in PineTree Reno Creek, a near-surface uranium project at the permitting/feasibility stage in the Powder River basin in Wyoming. American Uranium says the cash will allow it to better proceed with its exploration project in the Arizona Strip.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	147722	14.62	13.00	13.43	-0.51
Barrick Gold* ABX	76008	37.85	35.48	36.31	-0.20
Freeport McMo*FCX	72399	73.43	66.45	68.96	-1.12
Hecla Mining* HL	53445	4.64	3.97	4.18	-0.14
Newmont Mng* NEM	43807	46.39	42.34	42.67	-1.74
Goldcorp* GG	43522	42.60	38.21	38.44	-2.47
Silver Wheatn* SLW	33221	13.05	11.65	11.78	-0.74
Teck B* TCK	32132	28.95	25.76	27.13	-0.12
Kinross Gold* KGC	31781	22.80	20.33	20.53	-1.59
Gold Fields* GFI	30570	14.19	13.08	13.29	-0.41

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Industrl Mnls*	IDSM	161	0.03	0.01	0.02	+100.0
America West*	AWSR	337	0.15	0.08	0.12	+ 50.0
Tri-Valley*	TIV	7494	3.02	1.60	2.97	+ 47.7
American Uran*	ACUC	10	5.00	3.00	4.00	+ 35.5
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	309	0.21	0.10	0.16	+ 33.3
Habanero Res*	HBNRF	148	0.17	0.11	0.13	+ 30.0
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	113	0.06	0.04	0.05	+ 25.0
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	585	6.25	4.80	5.85	+ 22.3
Apollo Gold*	AGT	24540	0.59	0.41	0.51	+ 21.4
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	19	0.09	0.06	0.07	+ 16.6
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	27	0.12	0.09	0.09	-40.0
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	47	0.18	0.14	0.15	-28.5
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	263	0.21	0.17	0.17	-22.7
Solitario Res*	XPL	165	2.18	1.67	1.72	-17.3
World Vent*	WVNTF	65	0.06	0.05	0.05	-16.6
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	77	0.30	0.21	0.25	-16.6
Augusta Res*	AZC	385	2.55	2.10	2.15	-14.6
Stillwater Mg*	SWC	4978	8.35	6.66	6.73	-14.7
Aurelio Res*	AULO	90	0.06	0.05	0.06	-14.2
North Am Pall*	PAL	9708	2.99	2.63	2.74	-12.4

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Mechel*	MTL	6648900	17.86	+ 2.51
OM Group*	OMG	2141287	31.30	+ 1.73
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	584672	5.85	+ 1.07
American Uran*	ACUC	10132	4.00	+ 1.05
Tri-Valley*	TIV	7494277	2.97	+ 0.96
Cabot Corp*	CBT	3957948	24.01	+ 0.91
Mag Silver*	MVG	94300	5.78	+ 0.77
Vale*	VALE	24484400	23.01	+ 0.74
Southern Copp*	PCU	23296335	30.71	+ 0.66
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	15807262	12.51	+ 0.48
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	28183141	64.27	-4.56
Randgold Res*	GOLD	6840788	67.95	-4.25
AngloGold Ash*	AU	14586171	39.01	-2.99
Rio Tinto*	RTP	3378366	171.40	-2.83
Massey Energy*	MEE	26370082	28.73	-2.68
Silver Std Re*	SSRI	6809978	19.89	-2.54
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	17291092	35.62	-2.52
Goldcorp*	GG	43521834	38.44	-2.47
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	529682	73.95	-2.45
Potash C Sask*	POT	26871192	91.08	-2.01