U.S. Markets July 10-16

South of the border, stock markets rose during the period July 10-16, with market indexes setting year-long highs in the last three trading days of the period. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (perhaps soon to be renamed “the Rupert”) finished at 13,950.98, up 301.01 points or 2.2% over the period, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index finally broke through its March 2000 all-time high and finished at 1,549.52.

Gold bullion prices finished, um, devilishly higher, the traders’ flags having come down at US$666 per oz. on the afternoon of July 16. That was a US$4.75 increase during the period, which worked better for the broad gold equity market than it did for the unhedged crowd; the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index rose 2% to 149.51, while the Amex Gold Bugs Index — the non-hedgers — fell 1% to 352.70. All in all, resource stocks split almost evenly between advancers and decliners during the period.

Gold Fields recovered from some difficult weeks, rising US$1.08 to US$17.42. AngloGold Ashanti was also better, rising US$1.54 to US$42.87, but Newmont Mining fell US89 to US$41.11. Newmont floated US$1.15 billion in unsecured convertible notes, half paying at 1.25% until 2014 and the other half 1.625% until 2017. About US$880 million of that will go to knock out existing debt.

Speaking of knocking out debt, Rio Tinto presumably put an end to the Alcan takeover battle with a US$101-per-share bid that knocked out hostile bidder Alcoa. Rio was down US$24.88 to US$301.70, and Alcoa, now considered almost a sure takeover target, was up US$4.41 to US$46.77. Rio Tinto takes on US$46 billion in debt, which it plans to cut down through some asset sales, including Alcan’s packaging division.

There were some big gains from other base metal producers: Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold ran up US$4.36 to US$92.94, Southern Copper added US$6.26 to finish at US$109.59, and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce picked up US$2.18 to close at US$50.76.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
NT Holding*	NTHH	12	0.15	0.14	0.15	+	50.0
McKenzie Bay*	MKBY	644	0.09	0.06	0.08	+	33.3
Klondike Star*	KDSM	164	1.30	0.90	1.26	+	24.7
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	810	0.48	0.37	0.48	+	23.0
Halo Res*	HLOSF	71	0.601	0.376	0.587	+	22.0
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	44	0.13	0.105	0.13	+	18.1
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	79	0.08	0.042	0.07	+	16.6
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	1040	1.53	1.30	1.49	+	15.5
Augusta Res*	AZC	181	3.61	3.10	3.56	+	14.4
Uranium Star*	URST	2526	0.65	0.44	0.52	+	13.0
Eldorado Gold*	EGO	22028	6.91	4.34	4.76	–	30.3
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	120	0.41	0.32	0.36	–	25.0
Golden Eagle*	MYNG	7213	0.019	0.015	0.015	–	21.0
Sparrowtech R*	SPMC	101	0.06	0.05	0.05	–	16.6
Geocom Res*	GOCM	126	0.30	0.235	0.25	–	16.6
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	411	0.009	0.006	0.006	–	14.2
Coral Gold*	CGREF	26	3.00	2.30	2.68	–	13.5
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	2686	4.78	4.02	4.18	–	11.6
Sao Luis Mng*	SAOL	243	0.61	0.44	0.54	–	11.4
Fischer-W Gld*	FWGO	45	0.065	0.062	0.062	–	11.4

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Alcan*	AL	69004097	96.94	+	9.99
Southern Copp*	PCU	9032094	109.59	+	6.26
Alcoa*	AA	165465454	46.77	+	4.41
Freeport McMo*	FCX	45523523	92.94	+	4.36
Potash C Sask*	POT	13622874	84.14	+	4.02
Teck Comin B*	TCK	6639434	48.91	+	3.83
Alumina Inc*	AWC	703900	30.42	+	2.60
OM Group*	OMG	3471102	55.05	+	2.25
CVRD*	RIO	67608590	50.76	+	2.18
AngloGold Ash*	AU	6636300	42.87	+	1.54
Rio Tinto*	RTP	4003500	301.70	–	24.88
Cameco Corp*	CCJ	17295137	48.49	–	3.84
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	160200	169.86	–	3.71
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	471800	87.72	–	3.52
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	17656693	48.06	–	2.07
Eldorado Gold*	EGO	22028210	4.76	–	2.07
Westmoreland*	WLB	155600	26.44	–	1.61
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	2408455	40.18	–	1.57
Massey Energy*	MEE	6914800	24.73	–	1.44
Arch Coal*	ACI	11463204	35.16	–	1.42

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
Alcoa*	AA	165465	48.77	41.56	46.77	+	4.41
Alcan*	AL	69004	99.97	85.45	96.94	+	9.99
CVRD*	RIO	67609	52.66	47.23	50.76	+	2.18
Newmont Mng*	NEM	63692	42.05	40.14	41.11	–	0.89
Freeport McMo*	FCX	45524	95.85	87.12	92.94	+	4.36
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	38784	4.24	3.97	4.16	+	0.08
Goldcorp*	GG	33335	26.85	25.61	26.04	+	0.03
Barrick Gold*	ABX	31796	32.13	30.77	31.87	+	0.66
Gold Fields*	GFI	25915	17.65	16.18	17.42	+	1.08
Eldorado Gold*	EGO	22028	6.91	4.34	4.76	–	2.07