U.S. Markets – Sept. 8-14

U. S. equity markets continued their upswing in the Sept. 8-14 reporting period with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 129.46 points or 1.36% to finish at 9,626.8, while the S&P 500 index advanced 23.95 points or 2.34% to close at 1,049.34. The Nasdaq rose 54.01 points or 2.65% to close at 2,091.78.

Barrick Gold was the most actively traded stock with news of its $4-billion financing to trim its hedge book. The dilutive move sent the gold major’s share price down US$2.65 to close at US$37.39 on a trading volume of roughly 133 million shares. Under the bought-deal financing, Barrick will sell 109 million shares at US$36.95 apiece. It plans to use US$1.9 billion from the offering to eliminate all of its fixed-priced gold contracts or hedges within the next 12 months and about US$2 billion to eliminate a portion of its floating spot price gold contracts.

Rio Tinto was the other big newsmaker during the reporting period — topping the list of value gains with an advance of US$13.72 per share to US$173.57. The Anglo-Australian mining giant announced that it was further trimming debt with a plan to sell a 56% stake in the cable division of its Alcan engineered products unit to U. S. investment firm Platinum Equity for an undisclosed sum. Rio also announced on the same day that Brazil’s National Defence Council had officially approved its US$750-million sale of the Corumba iron ore mine to Brazil’s Vale.

Alcoa was the second most actively traded stock with about 110 million shares changing hands. The aluminum giant declared that it had moved into the top quartile in low-cost production with the opening of its Juruti bauxite mine in Brazil. The

Juruti operations, in which Alcoa holds a 60% stake, are made up of a port facility, a mine and a 50-km rail system.

The gold spot price moved to a New York close of US$999.60 per oz. from US$996.70. The Amex Gold Bugs index rose 7.04 points or 1.71% to finish at 419.57, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index inched up by 0.54 points or 0.32% to 167.02. Freeport-Mc-MoRan Copper & Gold was the only gold company to increase significantly, rising US$4.62 per share to close at US$70.62.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Barrick Gold* ABX	133681	42.10	36.59	37.39	-2.65
Alcoa* AA	110883	13.17	12.41	12.94	+ 0.76
Hecla Mining* HL	95821	4.69	3.62	4.44	+ 0.99
Freeport McMo*FCX	66985	71.45	66.15	70.62	+ 4.62
Goldcorp* GG	54870	43.39	39.04	40.83	-0.72
Silver Wheatn* SLW	54724	12.91	11.30	12.22	+ 0.63
Kinross Gold* KGC	52537	23.29	20.98	22.03	+ 0.15
Newmont Mng* NEM	49279	48.00	44.37	45.76	-0.47
Arch Coal* ACI	37585	20.79	17.76	20.67	+ 3.12
Gold Fields* GFI	36917	14.77	13.56	14.18	+ 0.55

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Tri-Valley*	TIV	8291	3.59	0.88	2.45	+175.2
Global Gold*	GBGD	675	0.20	0.12	0.20	+ 66.6
Amazon Goldsd*	AZNG	262	0.29	0.20	0.20	+ 53.8
Silver Dragon*	SDRG	4372	0.30	0.19	0.29	+ 45.0
Patriot Coal*	PCX	7077	12.47	9.20	12.42	+ 39.5
Dejour Enterp*	DEJ	205	0.47	0.31	0.42	+ 35.4
Augusta Res*	AZC	1094	2.88	1.96	2.64	+ 34.6
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	1573	0.04	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Argentex Mng*	AGXM	940	0.95	0.65	0.88	+ 33.3
Hecla Mining*	HL	95821	4.69	3.62	4.44	+ 28.7
Apolo Gold*	APLL	739	0.03	0.01	0.02	-33.3
Constittn Mng*	CMIN	4458	1.92	0.87	1.12	-25.8
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	39	0.16	0.06	0.06	-25.0
US Antimony*	UAMY	217	0.44	0.33	0.36	-18.1
Grandview Gld*	GVGDF	37	0.12	0.09	0.09	-18.1
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	56	0.06	0.05	0.05	-16.6
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	662	0.45	0.35	0.36	-16.2
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	99	0.29	0.21	0.21	-16.0
China Shen Zh*	SHZ	156	1.83	1.45	1.46	-14.1
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	112	0.17	0.11	0.14	-12.5

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto* RTP	3383086	173.57	+ 13.72
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	29682330	38.90	+ 5.47
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	27679899	30.40	+ 4.83
CONSOL Energy* CNX	15636963	43.43	+ 4.70
Freeport McMo* FCX	66984864	70.62	+ 4.62
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	10010291	56.60	+ 4.06
BHP Billi-BHP* BHP	20501015	66.09	+ 3.57
Patriot Coal* PCX	7077100	12.42	+ 3.52
Massey Energy* MEE	20778393	30.85	+ 3.34
Arch Coal* ACI	37585498	20.67	+ 3.12
Barrick Gold* ABX	133680627	37.39	-2.65
Intrepid Pots* IPI	1438500	23.35	-1.36
Goldcorp* GG	54869879	40.83	-0.72
Potash C Sask* POT	29975220	88.75	-0.71
Newmont Mng* NEM	49278630	45.76	-0.47
Constittn Mng* CMIN	4458198	1.12	-0.39
Aurizon Mines* AZK	3045234	4.44	-0.32
Westmoreland* WLB	147413	8.13	-0.31
Tanz Roy Exp* TRE	2372005	3.07	-0.29
China Shen Zh* SHZ	156200	1.46	-0.24