U.S. Markets – SEPT. 29 -OCT. 5

The Sept. 29-Oct. 5 reporting period continued to post red flags as the key U. S. market indicators declined for the second week in a row.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell close to 200 points to finish at 9,599.75, the S&P 500 index fell roughly 22 points to 1,040.46 and the Nasdaq fell 60 points to finish at 2,068.15.

The Amex Gold Bugs index managed to buck the trend, gaining 12 points to finish the period at 410.37 on the back of continued strength in the gold price. Bullishness in the gold market helped gold miners Agnico-Eagle Mines and AngloGold Ashanti top the U. S.-listed miners in terms of value growth. Agnico finished the period US$2.28 higher at US$66.55, while AngloGold was up US$2.20 to US$41.21.

South African-based AngloGold announced that it would form a joint venture with De Beers to explore for and mine gold and other minerals and metals. The companies said they would not, however, be looking for diamonds, unless they occur together with other minerals. The companies will focus on marine deposits around the world that are located in the area between the high water mark and the edge of the continental shelf.

Rounding out the top three gainers by value was another precious metals miner, Coeur d’Alene Mines. The silver miner’s shares rose US$1.57 to close at US$20.19 after it announced plans to expand its Rochester silver-gold mine in Nevada, adding about 2.9 million oz. silver and 30,000 oz. gold per year between 2011 and 2017. The company plans to build a new leach pad next year at a cost of US$28 million.

While Coeur d’Alene looks to ramp up silver production, Peruvian precious metals miner Minas Buenaventura will be scaling down its production of the metal. In September, the company announced that it would only produce 17.5 million oz. silver this year, down from its previous forecast of 19.5 million oz. With gold production coming in at the targeted 1.3 million oz., however, the company managed to join in with the gold miners and gained US$1.42 to US$34.39 for the period.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	172621	13.70	12.51	13.42	-0.01
Freeport McMo*FCX	72062	70.45	63.00	67.31	-1.65
Barrick Gold* ABX	66330	38.33	35.71	36.91	+ 0.60
Hecla Mining* HL	48992	4.47	3.95	4.35	+ 0.17
Goldcorp* GG	44007	40.82	37.73	39.32	+ 0.88
Newmont Mng* NEM	42880	44.64	41.95	43.20	+ 0.53
Silver Wheatn* SLW	40575	12.79	11.67	12.55	+ 0.77
Gold Fields* GFI	38004	14.03	13.15	13.97	+ 0.68
Kinross Gold* KGC	35054	22.17	20.32	21.08	+ 0.55
Teck B* TCK	30650	28.40	24.84	26.95	-0.18

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Industrl Mnls*	IDSM	317	0.04	0.03	0.03	+200.0
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	77	0.08	0.06	0.07	+ 40.0
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	102	0.20	0.13	0.20	+ 33.3
Aurelio Res*	AULO	99	0.07	0.05	0.07	+ 16.6
America West*	AWSR	353	0.15	0.12	0.14	+ 16.6
Santa Fe Gold*	SFEG	1008	1.30	1.08	1.27	+ 16.5
Keegan Res*	KGN	72	3.90	3.30	3.90	+ 15.7
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	297	0.22	0.17	0.22	+ 15.7
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	102	0.18	0.15	0.15	+ 15.3
New Gold*	NGD	11561	3.91	3.31	3.88	+ 15.1
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	278	0.16	0.11	0.11	-31.2
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	49	0.27	0.21	0.21	-16.0
Tri-Valley*	TIV	3593	2.99	2.30	2.50	-15.8
Habanero Res*	HBNRF	30	0.13	0.10	0.11	-15.3
Caledonia Mng*	CALVF	1163	0.06	0.06	0.06	-14.2
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	427	0.15	0.11	0.13	-13.3
Metalline Mng*	MMG	87	0.45	0.39	0.40	-13.0
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	335	6.00	4.70	5.10	-12.8
Argentex Mng*	AGXM	567	0.90	0.79	0.79	-12.2
Crosshair E&M*	CXZ	320	0.25	0.22	0.22	-12.0

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Agnico-Eagle* AEM	23616905	66.55	+ 2.28
AngloGold Ash* AU	16501373	41.21	+ 2.20
CoeurdAlene* CDE	21457834	20.19	+ 1.57
Buenaventura* BVN	7411576	34.39	+ 1.42
Lihir Gold* LIHR	1147211	25.85	+ 1.21
Pan Am Silver* PAAS	8413594	22.53	+ 1.06
Goldcorp* GG	44007205	39.32	+ 0.88
Silver Wheatn* SLW	40575445	12.55	+ 0.77
Royal Gold* RGLD	3329024	44.90	+ 0.69
Gold Fields* GFI	38004011	13.97	+ 0.68
Potash C Sask* POT	27067004	85.79	-5.29
Rio Tinto* RTP	3776736	166.68	-4.72
Mosaic* MOS	27755091	45.96	-3.58
OM Group* OMG	2109963	28.89	-2.41
Agrium* AGU	2502400	47.36	-2.33
Cabot Corp* CBT	2595655	21.80	-2.21
Soc Quim&M Ch*SQM	5653392	37.72	-1.65
Freeport McMo* FCX	72061807	67.31	-1.65
Intrepid Pots* IPI	1596000	22.08	-1.65
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	8340639	53.68	-1.46