U. S. Markets August 26-29

U. S. indices were up during the holiday-shortened Aug. 26-29 trading session: the Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 157 points, or 1.4%, to 11,544; the S&P 500 Index climbed 16 points, or 1.3%, to 1,283; and the Nasdaq was up marginally, rising 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,368. Precious metal indices were also up, buoyed by an uptick in the gold price: The Amex Gold Bugs Index gained 3 points, or 0.9%, to 344, and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index rose 2 points, or 1.5%, to 149.

The financial condition of U. S. banks has been front and centre since the subprime mortgage crisis came to the fore a year ago. The conventional wisdom says that U. S. banks are in dire shape — or worse. Therefore, the opinions of National Bank’s chief economist and strategist, Clment Gignac, come as a surprise. In e-mailed comments Gignac says: “… the U. S. banking system remains well-capitalized despite the significant erosion in profitability since the start of the credit crisis a year ago. This reflects the relative success of actions taken so far by the banks (capital injections, dividend cuts etc.)”

Gignac continues to write that, despite the weak economy “… we still believe that the key capital ratios will remain well above the thresholds thatwould turn the current credit squeeze to a full-fledged credit crunch.” Gignac points out that the U. S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) classified 117 banks as “problem” banks at the end of June, but another FDIC-insured 8,319 banks are considered wellcapitalized. Brokers (such as Merrill Lynch) are not included under the FDIC umbrella.

During the trading session, the coal sector continued to rebound from its recent sell-off, led by heavyweights Arch Coal, up US45 to US$54.24, and Peabody Energy, up US$1.21 to US$62.95. Cleveland-Cliffs, which is raising its profile in the coal market by acquiring Alpha Natural Resources, climbed US$4.26 to US$101.22. Foundation Coal reversed the trend, falling US54 to US$59.15.

The potash/fertilizer sector, which last week rebounded somewhat from its own selloff, was mostly down, led by behemoth Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, which lost US$3.94 to US$173.60.Mosaic Co. and Agrium were also down, but Intrepid Potash moved up, gaining US$1.80 to US$47.36.

U. S. most active issues

U. S. greatest percentage change

U. S. greatest value change

	VOLUME	WEEK
	(000s) HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Vale* RIO	59253 27.44	25.58	26.55	+ 0.56
CoeurdAlene*CDE	35109 1.89	1.73	1.79	-0.07
Alcoa* AA	25624 32.70	31.09	32.13	+ 0.71
Barrick Gold* ABX	25559 36.44	34.19	34.73	+ 0.32
Goldcorp* GG	24869 35.68	33.23	33.93	+ 0.43
Peabody Enrgy* BTU	24407 66.59	61.60	62.95	+ 1.21
PotashCSask* POT	24160184.50	172.86	173.60	– 3.94
Freeport McMo*FCX	22393 93.16	86.15	89.32	+ 1.51
Gold Fields* GFI	20951 9.71	8.63	9.10	+ 0.35
Mosaic* MOS	18753 110.90	105.00	106.74	-0.31

		VOLUME	WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Commerce Grp*	CGCO	26	0.14	0.07	0.14	+ 75.0
Shoshone Silv*	SHSH	78	0.17	0.12	0.17	+ 54.5
Contintl Mnls*	KMKCF	333	1.01	0.67	0.94	+ 42.4
Aspire Intl*	APIT	167	0.27	0.12	0.25	+ 38.8
Goldfield*	GV	401	0.64	0.47	0.64	+ 36.1
Rubicon Mnls*	RBY	3508	1.92	1.26	1.74	+ 33.8
Industrl Mnls*	IDSM	679	0.04	0.03	0.04	+ 33.3
Gold Reserve*	GRZ	770	1.92	1.41	1.92	+ 32.4
El Capitan Pr*	ECPN	1040	0.22	0.17	0.22	+ 29.4
Northern Dyn*	NAK	1943	6.93	5.11	6.48	+ 24.8
Colombia Gldf*	CGDF	68	0.42	0.34	0.34	-24.4
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	307	0.10	0.06	0.08	-20.0
Radius Gold*	RDUFF	67	0.16	0.10	0.14	-17.6
New Jersey Mg*	NJMC	11	0.40	0.34	0.34	-15.0
America West*	AWSR	71	0.34	0.25	0.31	-11.4
HuntMountain*	HNTM	16	0.75	0.67	0.67	-10.6
Birch Mountn*	BMD	487	0.21	0.16	0.17	-10.5
Northgate Mnl*	NXG	7555	1.68	1.51	1.52	-9.5
Aurelio Res*	AULO	54	0.11	0.09	0.10	-9.0
Apollo Gold*	AGT	1420	0.37	0.32	0.33	-8.3

WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Patriot Coal*	PCX	1730000	59.96	+ 5.47
OM Group*	OMG	3755734	37.10	+ 5.03
Cleveland-Cli*	CLF	9268978	101.22	+ 4.26
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	6860739	70.51	+ 2.14
Teck Comin B*	TCK	5184686	41.46	+ 1.94
Intrepid Pots*	IPI	841200	47.36	+ 1.80
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	1600790	62.52	+ 1.59
Yanzhou Coal*	YZC	1262316	17.30	+ 1.57
Westmoreland*	WLB	207207	20.18	+ 1.57
Freeport McMo*	FCX	22392533	89.32	+ 1.51
Potash C Sask*	POT	24159753	173.60	-3.94
Foundatn Coal*	FCL	4450648	59.15	-0.54
Mosaic*	MOS	18752628	106.74	-0.31
Banro Res*	BAA	90512	3.52	-0.29
Alexco Res*	AXU	110998	2.60	-0.21
Keegan Res*	KGN	11900	2.15	-0.17
Silver Std Re*	SSRI	1447213	25.14	-0.16
Northgate Mnl*	NXG	7555134	1.52	-0.16
Tanz Roy Exp*	TRE	605893	4.03	-0.15
Agrium*	AGU	2033900	84.30	-0.13