U.S. Markets Nov. 27-DEC. 3

In a week that saw no less than three Federal Reserve Bank officials — including chairman Ben Bernanke — talking out of school about tweaking interest rates, United States equity markets put up a strong recovery from the previous period’s lows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 571.13 points, or 4.5%, over the period Nov. 27-Dec. 3, finishing at 13,314.57, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was 4.6% higher at 1,472.42.

More confidence in the broader economy was balanced by less reliance on “safe-haven” gold, as the London bullion price fell US$45.75 to US$784.25 per oz. With the year-end approaching, the metal was probably also facing some selling by hedge funds liquidating long positions. Still, the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index was up 2.09 points, to 171.6, though the Amex Gold Bugs Index was down 6 points at 409.97 — well, the unhedged producers wanted exposure to the gold price.

In the mining sectors, the pattern was the same: almost all the golds down, almost everybody else up. Bullishness on brick-and-mortar economic expansion always tells in the copper producers, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold was up US$7.55 to US$96.85 while Southern Copper picked up US$8.32 to finish at US$109.32. All those pipes would lead to stainless steel sinks, and Vale was US$3.90 better at US$34.90.

Xu Leijiang, chairman of China’s largest steelmaker Baosteel, told a Chinese business newspaper that “the possibility of a takeover plan going ahead” for Rio Tinto “is really big.” Xu also said US$200 billion was not enough for Rio, let alone the offer being bruited by BHP Billiton. Rio was up US$24 at US$449.39, while BHP was up US$4.33 at US$75.20. Cooler heads suggested that Chinese steelmakers might get together to buy a 10% blocking stake in Rio — a move that would not necessarily prevent the business combination in Australian iron ore that they fear — or that the Chinese government might be lobbied by its steel industry to restrict BHP’s and Rio’s ability to do business in China. Baosteel shares, inscrutably, rose about 5% on the news, to 15.53 yuan.

In the golds, there were mostly losses, though AngloGold Ashanti rose to US$48.39.

U.S. greatest percentage change

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
HE-5 Res*	HRRN	2115	0.055	0.022	0.055	+	120.0
Birch Mountn*	BMD	3671	1.40	0.66	1.06	+	34.1
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	152	0.12	0.075	0.10	+	33.3
World Vent*	WVNTF	55	0.12	0.09	0.12	+	33.3
Trend Mng*	TRDM	141	0.04	0.032	0.04	+	33.3
Gammon Gold*	GRS	6118	9.15	6.64	8.76	+	27.1
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	714	107.51	89.22	101.49	+	17.1
Mosaic*	MOS	18918	74.71	61.39	72.20	+	16.4
Agrium*	AGU	3623	62.81	52.25	60.98	+	15.6
Potash C Sask*	POT	17687	126.91	106.81	123.84	+	15.1
McKenzie Bay*	MKBY	728	0.032	0.021	0.025	–	26.4
Douglas Lk Ml*	DLKM	240	0.21	0.12	0.15	–	25.0
Sparrowtech R*	SPMC	222	0.035	0.02	0.02	–	20.0
US Gold*	UXG	531	3.84	3.04	3.14	–	18.4
Cusac Gold Mn*	CUSIF	999	0.12	0.084	0.09	–	18.1
Wealth Minls*	WMLLF	44	2.80	2.50	2.50	–	17.2
North Am Pall*	PAL	2294	6.18	4.92	4.99	–	17.1
Alberta Star *	ASXSF	1530	0.70	0.525	0.56	–	16.4
Samex Mng*	SMXMF	620	1.19	0.93	0.97	–	16.3
Diamond Discv*	DMDD	574	0.007	0.006	0.006	–	14.2

U.S. greatest value change

		VOLUME	CLOSE		CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	2152552	449.39	+	24.00
Potash C Sask*	POT	17686510	123.84	+	16.33
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	714057	101.49	+	14.87
Soc Quim&M Ch*	SQM	256603	174.00	+	14.70
Mosaic*	MOS	18917713	72.20	+	10.22
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	6313790	89.50	+	9.06
Southern Copp*	PCU	11006901	109.32	+	8.32
Agrium*	AGU	3622700	60.98	+	8.24
Freeport McMo*	FCX	72767953	96.85	+	7.55
OM Group*	OMG	3805799	55.07	+	5.80
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	41959200	78.28	–	3.02
Randgold Res*	GOLD	7562240	35.32	–	1.50
Meridian Gold*	MDG	1776750	35.77	–	1.19
Westmoreland*	WLB	88100	16.01	–	1.19
North Am Pall*	PAL	2294313	4.99	–	1.03
Lihir Gold*	LIHR	435614	34.00	–	0.98
Goldcorp*	GG	33866325	32.58	–	0.90
Agnico-Eagle*	AEM	10774258	48.34	–	0.89
Fronteer Dev*	FRG	1508609	9.98	–	0.86
Seabridge Gld*	SA	2489423	26.31	–	0.86

U.S. most active issues

		VOLUME(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE		CHANGE
CVRD*	RIO	118922	35.95	29.90	34.90	+	3.90
Freeport McMo*	FCX	72768	100.99	85.71	96.85	+	7.55
Alcoa*	AA	47635	37.30	34.52	35.49	+	0.61
StreetTr Gold*	GLD	41959	80.89	76.98	78.28	–	3.02
Newmont Mng*	NEM	37944	52.34	49.26	50.00	–	0.44
Coeur d Alene*	CDE	36429	4.41	4.11	4.39	+	0.10
Goldcorp*	GG	33866	34.64	31.93	32.58	–	0.90
Barrick Gold*	ABX	30971	42.14	39.99	41.08	–	0.48
Golden Star*	GSS	25407	3.23	2.90	2.98	–	0.20
Gold Fields*	GFI	23408	17.37	16.08	16.52	–	0.40