U.S. Markets -Feb. 16-22

U.S. markets were unfazed by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s first interest rate hike since December 2008. The Fed raised the emergency lending rate it charges banks from 0.5% to 0.75%, citing improved financial market conditions. The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 114.57 points or 1.1% to close the Feb. 16-22 reporting period at 10,383.38 points while the S&P 500 index edged up 13.14 points or 1.2% to finish at 1,108.01.

The strengthening U.S. dollar dampened gold prices, which fell from their New York close on Feb. 16 of US$1,117.80 per oz. to US$1,112.60 per oz. on Feb. 22. The Amex Gold Bugs index lost 8.87 points or 2.1% to finish at 405.19 points, while the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index dropped 1.99 points or 1.2% to 162.00. Barrick Gold advanced US$1.67 per share to US$38.37 on news that it was buying an additional 25% stake from Kinross Gold in the Cerro Casale copper-gold project in Chile and spinning off its African assets. Barrick owns four mines in Tanzania and plans to set up a new London-listed company in which it will retain a 75% stake. The African assets make up about 10% of Barrick’s global production and 12% of its gold reserves.

Newmont Mining gained US$1.20 per share to US$47.73 on news that it had acquired 4 million units (one share and one-half of a share purchase warrant at C$1.25 per unit) of Loncor Resources, a gold and platinum exploration company focused on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Loncor owns or controls 55 exploration permits in North Kivu province and three exploration permits in Bas Congo province, roughly 250 km southwest of Kinshasa. The company also has gold rights to a 5,400-sq.-km area along the Ngayu Archaean greenstone belt in Orientale province.

Cliffs Natural Resources climbed US$8.62 to close the reporting period at US$54.49 per share. On Feb. 19, the coal major released full-year financial results demonstrating that despite the downturn in the steelmaking industry due to the financial crisis, the company ended the year with US$503 million in cash and equivalents.

Cliffs’ full-year revenues of US$2.34 billion decreased 35% from the previous year due to lower demand and pricing for steelmaking raw materials. Net income attributable to shareholders was US$205.1 million, or US$1.63 per diluted share, compared with US$515.8 million, or US$4.76 per diluted share, in 2008.

U.S. most active issues
	VOLUME		WEEK
	(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Alcoa* AA	142150	13.90	13.35	13.54	+ 0.26
Freeport McMo*FCX	79494	77.88	73.89	76.24	+ 2.56
Barrick Gold* ABX	74967	40.00	37.36	38.37	+ 1.67
Hecla Mining* HL	65246	5.71	5.15	5.30	+ 0.18
Newmont Mng* NEM	48337	49.00	46.89	47.73	+ 1.20
Goldcorp* GG	46481	39.59	37.84	38.04	+ 0.87
Goldspring* GSPG	44121	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.00
Cliffs Nat Rs* CLF	38521	55.34	46.55	54.49	+ 8.62
Kinross Gold* KGC	33993	19.46	18.24	18.32	+ 0.12
Silver Wheatn* SLW	29529	16.08	15.37	15.59	+ 0.45

U.S. greatest percentage change
		VOLUME		WEEK
		(000s)	HIGH	LOW	CLOSE	CHANGE
Tombstone Exp*	TMBXF	1923	0.08	0.04	0.08	+ 60.0
Uranerz Energ*	URZ	3942	2.02	1.30	1.92	+ 41.1
NWT Uranium*	NWURF	92	0.18	0.12	0.18	+ 38.4
Puda Coal*	PUDA	258	7.45	5.06	6.60	+ 34.6
Patriot Gold*	PGOL	345	0.37	0.25	0.37	+ 32.1
Mesabi Trust*	MSB	750	19.10	15.21	18.87	+ 24.6
Starfield Res*	SRFDF	252	0.11	0.08	0.11	+ 22.2
America West*	AWSR	172	0.20	0.16	0.18	+ 20.0
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	38521	55.34	46.55	54.49	+ 18.7
Cornerstone C*	CTNXF	45	0.13	0.13	0.13	+ 18.1
Amazon Goldsd*	AZNG	19	0.44	0.20	0.20	-54.5
Affinity Gold*	AFYG	1330	1.94	0.51	1.01	-46.2
Constittn Mng*	CMIN	846	1.05	0.81	0.81	-22.1
Xtra-Gold Res*	XTGR	110	1.16	0.98	1.01	-19.2
Golden Phoen*	GPXM	415	0.05	0.04	0.05	-16.6
Vista Gold*	VGZ	2151	2.50	2.00	2.05	-14.2
Elray Res*	ELRA	87	0.16	0.12	0.13	-13.3
Lake Vict Mng*	LVCA	90	0.47	0.41	0.42	-10.6
Pac Rim Minin*	PMU	557	0.19	0.16	0.17	-10.5
Brookmount Ex*	BMXI	33	0.12	0.09	0.09	-10.0

U.S. greatest value change
WEEK
		VOLUME	CLOSE	CHANGE
Rio Tinto*	RTP	4219214	214.54	+ 11.49
Cliffs Nat Rs*	CLF	38521137	54.49	+ 8.62
Mesabi Trust*	MSB	750252	18.87	+ 3.73
Alpha Nat Res*	ANR	13840709	46.94	+ 2.88
BHP Billi-BHP*	BHP	23440553	74.95	+ 2.82
Freeport McMo*	FCX	79493963	76.24	+ 2.56
BHP Billi-BBL*	BBL	5594381	62.78	+ 2.53
Massey Energy*	MEE	22515549	44.39	+ 2.33
Peabody Enrgy*	BTU	25162340	46.72	+ 2.27
Teck B*	TCK	27212094	38.12	+ 2.24
AngloGold Ash*	AU	13451705	35.88	-2.20
Seabridge Gld*	SA	2339502	23.03	-1.79
Lihir Gold*	LIHR	1972323	24.63	-0.93
Affinity Gold*	AFYG	1329868	1.01	-0.87
Buenaventura*	BVN	5709022	32.95	-0.73
Pan Am Silver*	PAAS	7855665	21.58	-0.62
Vista Gold*	VGZ	2150688	2.05	-0.34
Rubicon Mnls*	RBY	2179434	4.54	-0.26
Minefinders*	MFN	1720576	9.83	-0.26
Amazon Goldsd*	AZNG	18921	0.20	-0.24