‘That’s a Wrap’
By Rod Blake
As I reviewed the previous week’s market statistics, one item that stood out more than anything else was that the beaten down TSX Venture Exchanged (up over 4%) finally outperformed the other senior North American indexes, which by extension, meant that resources, especially precious metals, must also have had a good week. And so it was, with gold bullion up over 2% on the week to US$1,980 and silver up over 6.5% to US$23.72.
The way I see it – The TSX Venture Exchange is primarily made up of resource issues, and of those resource issues, most of them are precious metal explorers and developers, and most of those are exploring or developing gold projects. Gold and the Venture tend to rise and fall in sync, so it was natural that both the Venture and gold bullion were up significantly last week. Silver is the catalyst for a long-term bull run in gold as silver usually outperforms gold over a long-term precious metal bull market. Silver significantly outperformed gold last week. Should this trend of silver outperforming gold continue we might just be witness to a very strong precious metals market and TSX Venture Exchange going into 2024.
Last week’s action in silver carried over into the new week with the price rising to a new 3-month high of US$24.31 a troy ounce.
In a very timely manner – Vancouver, BC based Impact Silver Corp. ‘IPT-V’ announced a 26% increase in 3rd-quarter revenue from the company’s Zacualpan and Poimosas operations in Mexico.
Meanwhile – Air Canada ‘AC-T’ denied any responsibility for the April 17th theft of $23.8-million of gold bullion stolen from the airline’s Pearson Airport facilities in Toronto. The airline stated the cargo did not receive special security as courier Brink’s failed to place any value on the precious shipment.
Pan American Energy Corp. ‘PNRG-C’ filed an inaugural Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the Calgary, AB company’s Horizon Lithium Project in Big Smoke Valley, Esmeralda County, Nevada that indicated the property contained an indicated estimate of 1,325 kilo tonnes of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent.
All of this as the price of lithium fell to a new 2-year low of US$18,258 per tonne.
The price of lumber continued to rise to a new 4-month high of US$550 per 1,000 board feet (MBF).
Natural gas dropped to a new 21/2-month low of US$2.86 per million British Thermal Units (MMBtu).
The key Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 4-rigs over the past week to 622, down by 162 rigs from this time last year. In Canada – the number of active rigs rose by 1-rig to 197, up by 3-rigs from one year ago.
Uranium continued its 7-year bull run, moving up to a new a new 16-year high of US$80.25 a pound.
All of which helped the Sprott Physical Uranium Trust ‘U.UN-T’ rise to a new 16-year closing price of $26.08 and industry leader Cameco Corporation ‘CCO-T’ & ‘CCJ-N’ close at a new record high of $62.28. Not to be left behind – uranium developer Fission Uranium Corp. ‘FCU-T’ reached a new 11/2-year closing high of $1.07, while Denison Mines Corp. ‘DML-T’ & ‘DNN-N.A’ closed at a new 2-year high of $2.56 and NexGen Energy Ltd. ‘NXE-T & N’ rose to a new all-time closing high of $9.20.
Kinross Gold Corporation ‘K-T’ & ‘KGC-N’ shareholders were pleased to see their stock price rise to a new11/2-year closing high of $7.62.
Meanwhile stockholders of First Quantum Minerals ‘FM-T’ were disheartened to see their investment fall by another $0.35 or 2.56% to a new 3-year closing low of $13.31 after the Toronto, ON based miner warned that illegal blockades might force of imminent closure of the company’s Cobre Panama copper mine in Panama.
Uranium and Silver were the commodities that had the best gains on the week, while lithium and natural gas were down the most.
The U.S Dollar ‘DXY’ fell to a new 3-month low of 103.38.
All of the major North American markets moved calmly into the U.S Thanksgiving Long Weekend with the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) dropping to a new 4-year low of 12.46.
For the Week – the DJI gained 1.27% to 35.390 with the S&P 500 up 1.00% to 4,559 and the NASDAQ ahead by 0.89% to 14,251. Up north – the TSX lost 0.36% to 20,103 while the TSX Venture rose 0.19% to 532. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell 9.71% to 12.46.
With currencies – the Canadian dollar gained 0.66% to US$0.7336 while the U.S. dollar ‘DXY’ dropped 0.39% to 103.40.
With commodities – gold bullion gained 1.11% to US$2,002, as silver rose 2.49% to US$24.31, and copper gained 1.34% to US$3.79, while lithium lost 7.53% to US$18,258. Crude oil lost 0.94% to US$75.18 and natural gas dropped 3.04% to US$2.87, while uranium gained 8.45% to US$80.25. With soft commodities – lumber gained 2.04% to US$549. Overall – the CRB Commodities Index rose by 0.64% to 313.
And Finally – In a time where it seems that the richer are keeping more and more of their wealth to themselves – it was pleasing to hear of a Hinsdale, New Hampshire man who, after living very frugally all of his life, gave his entire US$3.8-million estate to his town of 4,200 people with the only stipulation being the funds go into a trust with the interest earned going towards benefiting the community in the areas of education, health, recreation and culture.
