FSJG Index™ Review
by Frank Barbera
October 14, 2006

General Comments

The Sun began to shine ever so slightly in Commodity-Land this week as prices throughout the much-battered Natural Resource sector regained some buoyancy. To be sure, there is still along way to go. Crude Oil, despite a late week advance, still managed to close lower on the week for the sixth time in the last seven weeks and now down 8 of the last 10. Yet, there were signs of hope.

In the Precious Metals, Gold managed a gain of $15 per ounce on the week closing at $593.50, up 2.59% from last week's close of $578.00. Silver also managed a gain of $.50 to close at $11.70, up 4.46% on the week. The rebound in metals prices naturally spilled over into the heavily oversold mining stocks, where the XAU staged a rally, gaining 4.80 on the week to close at 129.01, up 3.86%. For the un-hedged components of the Amex Gold Bugs Index, the HUI, prices also moved higher with the HUI ending at 303.32, up 11.42 index points or 3.91%.

Financial Sense Junior Gold Index

With the blue-chip senior mining companies moving higher, small cap miners also recovered with the Financial Sense Junior Gold Index (FSJG) ending at 237.84, up 9.01 index points or 3.93% from last week's close of 228.83. On Friday, the index remained below both the declining 50-day average at 246.13 and the rising 200-day moving average at 248.53.

Among the sub-indices, the FS Junior Producer Index gained 7.44 index points to close at 257.14, up 2.97% from the prior week's close of 249.70 with the 50-day average ending at 267.54 and the 200-day average ending at 269.75.

In addition to the 3% gain in Producers, the FS Junior Development Index rally came alive ending the week higher by 6.31%, its best weekly performance in some months. At the close on Friday, the Junior Development Index ended at 625.44, up 37.15 index points from last week's close of 588.09 with the 50-day average ending at 630.83 and the 200-day average ending at 670.67. Finally, Exploration stocks which usually lag a bit at major turns, gained ground but did so modestly, with the FS Junior Exploration Index ending at 120.06, up 2.75% from last week's reading of 116.84. For the Exploration Index, the 50-day average ended at 126.92, with the 200-day average at 120.75.

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.