FSJG Index™ Review
by Frank Barbera
April 22, 2007

General Comments

It has been a turbulent few weeks in the metals and mining stock markets with Gold and Gold Stocks coming into the week on a high note, selling off sharply mid-week, and then rebounding in Friday’s session. Enough volatility for anyone to be reaching for the TUMS as daily percentage swings in many individual mining stocks frequently ended in the 5% to 6% range. In this week’s update, we have constructed a table for each of the FS Junior Gold Indices containing the weekly closing price and moving average data for the last few weeks as we were away on vacation during the first weeks of April.

Looking at the action of the week just past, we find that it was a mixed week with the FS Junior Gold Mining Index ending slightly lower, down .32 for the week at a close of 326.65. Among the other sub-indices, the Junior Producer Index was up .71, the Development Index down 7.18, and the Exploration Index up .76. The mixed performance among the Small Cap Gold Indices was in keeping with a soft performance within the high cap sector, where the XAU ending down 3.36 at a close of 143.66 (-2.28%) and the HUI ended down 8.31 at 356.16 (also down 2.28%). For the week, Gold gained advancing by $6.60 (+.90%) to end at $692.00 up from $685.40 the prior week.

Looking at the action of Gold Stocks versus Gold, we find that overall the performance of mining stocks has been acceptable since the mid-March low as the XAU through the high close of Monday this past week was up 15.52%, and the FS Junior Gold Mining Index up 11.76%. In both cases, the mining stocks outperformed the percentage gain seen in Gold, which advanced from a March 13^th low of $640.90 to a Monday 4/16 high of $690.10, for a gain of $49.20 or 7.67%. Normally, in a ‘healthy’ market, the mining stocks will gain ground at around twice to three times the percentage gains seen in the metal. So thus far, the relative action is good.

Since the mid-May 2005 major market lows – nearly two years ago, the FSJG Indices have handily outperformed their large cap brethren with the FS Junior Gold Mining Index up 188.35%. The Junior Producers are up 187%, the Development stocks up 91.15%, and the Exploration Stocks up 379.30% versus the XAU up 82.47%.

That’s all for now,

Frank

*Please note that the individual companies in this index are proprietary and will not be disclosed due to compliance and regulatory issues resulting from the relationship of FinancialSense.com, Puplava Financial Services, Inc., Registered Investment Advisor and Puplava Securities, Inc. Member Firm FINRA/SIPC.