U.S. Markets – Aug. 11-17

The world markets finished off the Aug. 11-17 reporting period with a major sell-off. Investors panicked when data showed that U. S. consumers had tightened their wallets instead of opening them back up.

In a single day, the S&P 500 index plunged 2.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2%. Overall, the S&P 500 lost 2.7% or 27.47 points to close at 979.73. The Dow plummeted 2.2%, or 202.61 points, to finish the week at 9,135.34 points.

As to whether the five-month rally in stocks is coming to an end, analysts said it was too early to tell and that things will be clearer after Labour Day in early September.

During the same period, gold fell to US$932 per oz. from US$945, while base metals like copper, zinc and aluminum held steady. Nickel’s recent momentum, however, was halted as the metal fell US31¢ to US$8.61 per lb.

All of the most actively traded mining stocks in the U. S. lost ground over the period. Alcoa was the most actively traded with more than twice as many shares changing hands as Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, next in line. Alcoa shares were down US28¢ to US$12.41 on a trading volume of 169.7 million shares, while Freeport fell US$3.02 to US$59.36 on 74.4 million shares traded.

The period wasn’t a downer for everyone, though. Alpha Natural Resources was the top gainer with shares up US$2.54 apiece to US$34.16.

Ivanhoe Mines climbed by US71¢ per share to close out at US$8.61. Its partner at the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mongolia, Rio Tinto, however, was the top loser by value over the period, falling US$7.12 per share to US$148.40. In its second-quarter financial results, Ivanhoe announced that the Mongolian parliament has finally agreed on a profit-sharing agreement with Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto. The government will now present the proposed agreement to a special session of parliament that’s slated to start discussing Oyu Tolgoi on Aug. 19.

Constitution Mining shares did well on a percentage basis, up 43% to US93¢ apiece. The company has completed the design of a program to drill 300 reconnaissance holes and 200 reserve-definition holes at its Gold Sands property in northeastern Peru.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	169652	13.88	12.13	12.41	-0.28
Freeport McMo*FCX	74371	66.09	58.56	59.36	-3.02
Golden Eagle* MYNG	51031	0.00	1.0E8	0.00	0.00
Hecla Mining* HL	38062	3.35	2.80	2.82	-0.30
Teck B* TCK	37435	27.53	23.96	25.17	-0.45
Barrick Gold* ABX	34999	34.75	32.17	32.94	-1.32
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	32620	37.24	33.42	33.74	-1.47
Kinross Gold* KGC	28541	20.02	17.97	18.20	-1.47
Goldcorp* GG	26036	36.65	33.45	34.17	-2.03
Newmont Mng* NEM	25371	42.00	38.70	38.77	-1.97

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	1412	0.25	0.17	0.25	+ 47.0
Constittn Mng*	CMIN	533	0.97	0.62	0.93	+ 43.0
US Antimony*	UAMY	225	0.55	0.34	0.48	+ 37.1
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	109	0.13	0.05	0.12	+ 33.3
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	747	5.32	3.69	4.62	+ 25.5
Canarc Res*	CRCUF	33	0.11	0.10	0.11	+ 22.2
Uranium Star*	URST	5046	0.45	0.28	0.40	+ 21.2
Minco Gold*	MGH	403	0.70	0.56	0.69	+ 16.9
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	12	0.07	0.05	0.07	+ 16.6
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	43	0.34	0.24	0.32	+ 14.2
Apolo Gold*	APLL	101	0.01	0.01	0.01	-50.0
Global Gold*	GBGD	75	0.18	0.11	0.11	-26.6
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	398	0.29	0.21	0.23	-17.8
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	182	0.56	0.46	0.46	-17.8
General Moly*	GMO	2724	2.83	2.30	2.39	-15.8
Minera Andes*	MNEAF	2126	0.65	0.54	0.54	-15.6
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	128	0.14	0.10	0.12	-14.2
North Am En P*	NOA	121	6.12	5.04	5.23	-14.1
Richmont Mine*	RIC	342	3.20	2.67	2.75	-13.2
Apollo Gold*	AGT	3194	0.47	0.38	0.40	-13.0

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	22072508	34.16	+ 2.54
L&L Intl Hldg*	LLFH	747354	4.62	+ 0.94
Ivanhoe Mines*	IVN	13732486	8.61	+ 0.71
Constittn Mng*	CMIN	532782	0.93	+ 0.28
Intl Royalty*	ROY	830863	3.58	+ 0.27
US Antimony*	UAMY	225090	0.48	+ 0.13
Minco Gold*	MGH	402549	0.69	+ 0.10
Aurizon Mines*	AZK	1497450	4.05	+ 0.09
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	1412299	0.25	+ 0.08
Contintl Mnls*	KMKCF	355814	1.12	+ 0.07
Rio Tinto*	RTP	4373853	148.40	-7.12
Potash C Sask*	POT	24730321	91.12	-5.33
AlumCpChina*	ACH	957300	27.94	-3.75
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	13187590	52.93	-3.71
Agrium*	AGU	2420500	45.73	-3.45
Freeport McMo*	FCX	74371038	59.36	-3.02
Royal Gold*	RGLD	2210014	39.02	-2.64
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	117339	62.80	-2.62
OM Group*	OMG	1178698	28.84	-2.51
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	10627340	49.23	-2.46