U. S. Markets – Jan 13-16

The news was bleak during the Jan. 13-16 trading session, which was abbreviated in the U. S. by the Jan. 19 Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Confidence took another big whack as Bank of America posted its first quarterly loss in 17 years, while Citigroup reported its fifth straight quarterly loss. And the carnage in the banking sector shows no signs of abating. On Jan. 19, Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland reported the biggest loss in U. K. corporate history.

Job losses across all industries continue to mount and small business confidence is in free fall: The National Federation of Independent Business said on Jan. 13 that its small business optimism index for December dropped to its second-lowest reading in the survey’s 35-year history. Market indices took it on the chin: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 167.34 points or 2% to close the trading period at 8,281.22, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 21.67 points or 2.5% to close at 850.12.

The impact isn’t being felt evenly across the mining space, however. Among the few indices to defy gravity were Amex Goldbugs, which advanced 9.59 points, or 3.62%, to close at 274.81, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index, which climbed 4 points, or 3.64%, to finish the week at 113.78. Among the successes: Randgold Resources, which posted the largest gains of the session, rising US$5.34 per share to close at US$42.10; Agnico-Eagle Mines, up US$4.38 per share to US$50.45; and Barrick Gold, US$3.13 per share higher at US$34.27.

For many base metals and energy companies, however, it was a different story. Rio Tinto plunged US$3.67 per share to US$88.77. On Jan. 15, the company released its fourth-quarter operations review in which it noted that global production of iron ore and copper in the quarter were both down a year-on-year 18%. It also noted that fourth-quarter earnings would be affected by the sharp decline in aluminum prices.

And in a world where steel is no longer in great demand, Cliffs Natural Resources, the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America and a major supplier of metallurgical coal to the global steelmaking industry, dived US$2.64 per share to US$22.10.

U. S. most active issues
	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	146513	13.38	11.50	12.96	+ 0.21
Alcoa* AA	131868	9.98	8.71	9.43	-0.63
Freeport McMo*FCX	107362	26.36	21.97	24.40	-1.04
Barrick Gold* ABX	66555	35.10	30.92	34.27	+ 3.13
Goldcorp* GG	65181	26.78	23.02	26.36	+ 1.39
PotashCSask*POT	52056	77.16	64.92	72.34	– 1.65
Kinross Gold* KGC	49108	17.96	15.50	17.89	+ 1.15
Silver Wheatn* SLW	37299	6.15	4.88	6.15	+ 0.59
Newmont Mng* NEM	33812	38.80	34.40	37.83	+ 1.92
Gold Fields* GFI	33503	8.56	7.42	8.23	+ 0.09

U. S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Aurelio Res*	AULO	232	0.10	0.04	0.10	+150.0
Bullion Monar*	BULM	21	0.23	0.11	0.23	+ 64.2
Industrl Mnls*	IDSM	279	0.03	0.01	0.03	+ 50.0
AmMex Gold*	AMXG	49	0.04	0.01	0.03	+ 50.0
Silver Res*	SLVV	1233	0.29	0.19	0.29	+ 38.1
Tombstone Exp*	TMBXF	633	0.25	0.16	0.24	+ 26.3
First Majestc*	FRMSF	150	2.10	1.61	2.02	+ 20.9
NovaGold Res*	NG	9291	1.99	1.26	1.84	+ 17.9
New Gold*	NGD	1964	1.60	1.24	1.57	+ 16.3
Orezone Res*	OZN	1864	0.51	0.43	0.51	+ 15.9
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	1021	0.03	0.01	0.02	-33.3
Cream Mnrls*	CRMXF	40	0.09	0.06	0.06	-33.3
Aspire Intl*	APIT	25	0.10	0.09	0.10	-33.3
Quaterra Res*	QMM	106	0.71	0.45	0.48	-28.3
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	66	0.31	0.22	0.22	-26.6
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	604	0.08	0.06	0.06	-25.0
Yellowcake Mg*	YCKM	23	0.08	0.06	0.06	-25.0
Argentex Mng*	AGXM	172	0.30	0.21	0.26	-18.7
America West*	AWSR	516	0.22	0.17	0.18	-18.1
Petaquilla Mn*	PTQMF	45	0.46	0.35	0.40	-16.6

U. S. greatest value change
WEEK
	VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Randgold Res* GOLD	4966798	42.10	+ 5.34
Agnico-Eagle* AEM	21099636	50.45	+ 4.38
Barrick Gold* ABX	66555301	34.27	+ 3.13
Royal Gold* RGLD	3543718	43.57	+ 2.41
Newmont Mng* NEM	33811562	37.83	+ 1.92
AngloGold Ash* AU	8474400	25.96	+ 1.76
Agrium* AGU	2694000	33.66	+ 1.68
Goldcorp* GG	65180846	26.36	+ 1.39
Silver Std Re* SSRI	5098315	17.82	+ 1.34
Kinross Gold* KGC	49107932	17.89	+ 1.15
Rio Tinto* RTP	6403276	88.77	-3.67
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	2946074 5	22.10	-2.64
CONSOL Energy* CNX	21744189	26.48	-2.49
Potash C Sask* POT	52056356	72.34	-1.65
Freeport McMo* FCX	107361874	24.40	-1.04
OM Group* OMG	1933719	19.44	-0.94
BHP Billi-BBL* BBL	5265305	35.73	-0.81
Teck B* TCK	21566495	4.67	-0.76
Westmoreland* WLB	110574	9.28	-0.76
AlumCpChina* ACH	1488500	12.05	-0.63