U.S. Markets Feb. 27-Mar. 5

A sharp drop in the Shanghai stock market sent ripple effects across global equity markets, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 581.85 points to 12,050.41 during the Feb. 27-March 5 period.

Concerns about the state of the U.S. economy prompted the Dow Jones to post its biggest weekly percentage sell-off since March 2003.

The broader market Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was also down 75.25 points to 1,374.12.

All of the week’s volume leaders wound up in negative territory. Among them, Companhia Vale do Rio Doce fell US$5.04 to US$31.85 following Brazilian newspaper reports that the Brazilian mining giant may make an offer for Montreal-based aluminum producer Alcan.

Estado de S. Paulo did not cite any sources.

Speculation about aluminum company takeovers has been rampant recently. Two weeks ago, The Times of London reported that BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were both planning US$40-billion bids for the American aluminum giant, Alcoa.

However, the latest round of speculation could not prevent Alcoa shares from falling US$3.63 to US$31.73 on news that the company will close its Reynolds Food Packaging plastics manufacturing plant in Mt. Vernon, Ky., by the middle of this year.

Rio Tinto fell US$26.92 to US$203.68.

Still, the news wasn’t all bad. Shares of Northern Orion rose US8 to US$4.31. Northern Orion has a 12.5% stake in the Alumbrera copper-gold mine in northwestern Argentina, where recent drilling added one more year to the project’s lifespan. The mine is now expected to stay in operation until at least mid-2016.

Northern Orion was gearing up to release its fourth-quarter and year-end results on March 8.

On the OTC board, Wealth Minerals also bucked the stock market trend, rising US2 to US$2.87. On Feb. 28, the Vancouver company said exploration has significantly expanded the identified uranium mineralization at its 100%-owned Diamante-Los Patos property in northwestern Argentina. While it’s early days, the property is said to have bulk-tonnage potential.

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
CVRD*	RIO	84148	35.25	31.13	31.85	-5.04
Alcoa*	AA	74040	34.64	31.61	31.73	-3.63
Goldcorp*	GG	58045	28.23	24.55	24.55	-4.18
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	54470	68.33	62.62	62.93	-5.17
Newmont Mng*	NEM	52942	46.20	42.10	42.48	-4.48
Freeport McMo*	FCX	50861	59.96	52.51	53.09	-8.83
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	47719	4.72	4.00	4.11	-0.69
Barrick Gold*	ABX	43607	31.07	27.80	27.87	-3.54
Gold Fields*	GFI	34499	18.10	16.38	16.79	-1.93
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	33941	0.032	0.021	0.021	-0.009

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	561	0.006	0.005	0.006	+20.0
Halo Res*	HLOSF	156	0.44	0.38	0.44	+5.2
Geocom Res*	GOCM	72	0.28	0.221	0.27	+4.2
Cream Mnrls*	CRMXF	44	0.41	0.361	0.41	+2.5
Northern Orio*	NTO	9094	4.62	4.00	4.31	+1.8
US Antimony*	UAMY	80	0.70	0.65	0.66	+1.5
Wealth Minls*	WMLLF	377	3.07	2.40	2.871	+0.7
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	178	0.68	0.531	0.68	+0.2
		0	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.0
		0	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.0
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	4312	2.30	1.527	1.55	-32.0
Pine Valley M*	PVMCF	897	0.077	0.047	0.047	-31.8
Trend Mng*	TRDM	1907	0.145	0.10	0.103	-31.3
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	33941	0.032	0.021	0.021	-30.0
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	4609	5.37	3.78	4.07	-28.4
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	172	0.155	0.115	0.13	-23.5
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	35	0.18	0.13	0.13	-23.5
Silverado*	SLGLF	27799	0.132	0.101	0.102	-23.3
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	580	49.00	41.44	41.50	-21.7
Tara Gold*	TRGD	2398	1.15	0.90	0.915	-21.7

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Northern Orio*	NTO	9093672	4.31	+0.08
Halo Res*	HLOSF	155600	0.44	+0.022
Wealth Minls*	WMLLF	377037	2.871	+0.02
Geocom Res*	GOCM	72249	0.27	+0.011
Cream Mnrls*	CRMXF	43800	0.41	+0.01
US Antimony*	UAMY	79768	0.66	+0.01
Madison Minls*	MMRSF	178005	0.68	+0.002
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	561120	0.006	+0.001
		0	0.00	0.00
		0	0.00	0.00
Rio Tinto*	RTP	2726920	203.68	-26.92
Potash C Sask*	POT	8449736	145.96	-19.05
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	878953	128.91	-16.35
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	579800	41.50	-11.51
OM Group*	OMG	3579310	42.90	-9.58
Freeport McMo*	FCX	50861411	53.09	-8.83
Southern Peru*	PCU	16687565	64.69	-7.98
Teck Comin B*	TCK	1872103	66.11	-7.66
ASA (Bermuda)*	ASA	436700	58.95	-7.31
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	6798379	53.44	-7.14