Why so quite, should be buying now, page-8

Shares in PDG held up fairly well (-11c or .96%) last night considering the horrific falls sufferred by other stocks removed from the S & P 500 index which fell up to 9%!

Should be a good day for AOR today.

Wednesday July 10, 3:41 pm Eastern Time
Reuters Company News
ADR Report-Stocks drop on Wall St slide, S&P rejig

NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - U.S.-traded shares of foreign companies slumped on Wednesday, battered by a steep selloff on Wall Street and weakness in equity markets around the globe as concerns about corporate America's accountability bubbled to the surface yet again.

A number of U.S.-traded foreign issues were also taking a hit after Standard & Poor's dropped seven foreign issues from its key S&P 500 index (CBOE:^SPX - News), replacing them with U.S. firms in a move it said would make the index better reflect the universe of large-cap U.S. stocks.

Dutch stocks Unilever NV (NYSE:UN - News) and Royal Dutch Petroleum (NYSE:RD - News) spun lower after being booted from the index, and Canadian telecoms equipment supplier Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE:NT - News) -- also removed from the gauge -- slumped nearly 15 percent.

The Bank of New York's index of ADRs (CBOT:^BKADR - News), or American Depositary Receipts, was down 2.8 percent, and the bank's index of leading European ADRs (CBOT:^BKEUR - News) dropped 3.2 percent. Its Latin American ADR index (CBOT:^BKLA - News) fell 1.3 percent, while its Asian ADR index (CBOT:^BKAS - News) dropped 1.7 percent.

Wall Street was reeling in mid-afternoon trading after a federal inquiry into Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q - News) reignited jitters about corporate accounting.

Questions about the credibility of U.S. firms have been raised in recent months, particularly since WorldCom Inc.'s (NasdaqNM:WCOME - News) $3.85 billion accounting scandal surfaced in June.

Canada's Nortel tumbled 23 cents to $1.32 on the New York Stock Exchange. Other Canadian stocks hit by the reshuffling were gold miners Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX - News), down 56 cents at $18.98, and Placer Dome (NYSE:PDG - News), down 45 cents at $11; nickel producer Inco (NYSE:N - News), off $1.93 at $20.52; and aluminum maker Alcan (NYSE:AL - News), off $1.93 at $34.03.

Shares in giant oil group Royal Dutch tumbled 9 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, down $5.03 at $50.86, while Unilever fell $3.83, or 6 percent, to $61.29.