A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, November 29th
‘That’s a Wrap’
By Rod Blake
As the brokers, investors, traders and portfolio managers alike settled in for the start of the shortened American Thanksgiving long weekend – there was a collective thankfulness amongst those that held positions in the major North American equity indexes for the bounty they had received this year, in that these markets continued to advance their extraordinary gains and were still at or near all-time highs, with yearend reporting only one short month away. However, those holding positions in the TSX Venture Exchange were once again hoping for table scraps as the Venture was still far below any long-term highs.
The way I see it – But, is the TSX Venture Exchange at 606 really doing that badly? True – the junior bourse is some 2.5% below its high of the year of 622 set in October – but as I checked my notes – the Venture is still up 8.5% on the year and up almost 100-points or 19.5% from the 31/2-year low of 507 it established about this time last year. When analysing the TSX Venture one has to keep in mind one of the unique features of this exchange. This feature if ‘Tax Loss Selling’. The Venture suffers through an onslaught of tax loss selling that usually culminates in mid to late November as investors unload their losing positions to raise cash for over 30-days in order to repurchase these or other positions in the junior markets traditional very buoyant New-Years market. And, while tax loss selling takes place in the senior markets, it doesn’t affect those indexes as much because of their much greater liquidity. Last year – tax loss selling drove the Venture down to 507. This year it touched 591 a couple of weeks ago, some 16.4% higher than in 2023. If this low holds – look for the TSX Venture to take out the 2024 highs early in the New Year.
The driller’s helper in me loves to report exceptional drill hole assays and as such –
Calibre Mining Corp. ‘CXB-T’ reported their drill hole FZ-24-048 at the company’s Valentine Gold Mine in Newfoundland & Labrador returned 2.43 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) over
172.8 metres (m).
Denison Mines Corp. ‘DML-T & ‘DNN-N.A’ announced the Toronto, ON based uranium developer had filed a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for the company’s Wheeler River Uranium Project in northern Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin.
Utility and infrastructure issues continued to attract bids with the share price of TransAlta Corporation ‘TA-T’ & ‘TAC-N’ closing at a new 113/4-year high of $15.87 and Aecon Group Inc. ‘ARE-T’ reaching a new all-time closing high of $29.54.
The U.S Energy Information Administration reported their country produced a world leading 13.4-million barrels of oil per day (mmbbl/d) in August. Followed by Russia at 9.7mm, Saudi Arabia at 9.0mm, Canada at 4.8mm, and China at 4.2-mmbbl/d.
This as natural gas rose to close at a new 1-year high of US$3.48 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).
The influential Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs was down by 1-rig in the past week to 582, down by 43-rigs from this time last year. Up north – the number of Canadian active rigs rose by 4-rigs to 205, up by 13-rigs from one year ago. Â
Lithium Ionic Corp. ‘LTH-V’ shares’ rose by $0.02 or 2.25% to close at a new 6-month high of $0.95 after the Toronto, ON based mineral developer announced a non-binding US$266-million Letter of Interest from Export-Import Bank of the United States to help develop the company’s flagship Bandeira Lithium Project in Minas Gerias, Brazil.
One day after touching a new 21/3-year closing low of $2.36 – the stock price of Patriot Battery Metals Inc. ‘PMET-T’ rose by $ or % to $ after the Vancouver, BC based lithium company released encouraging in-fill drill hole assays including 100.5 metres (m) of 1.62% Li2O from its CV5 Spodumene Pegmatite Deposit in the James Bay area of Quebec.
Energy Fuels Inc. ‘UUUU-N’ &’ EFR-T’ stock rose by $0.28 or 2.83% to a new 9-month closing high of $10.19 after the Lakewood, CO miner announced that the Madagascar Council of Ministers had lifted a previous suspension of operations on the company’s Toliara Critical Minerals Project in that island country.
Lumber stocks continued to attract investor interest with Doman Building Materials Group Ltd. ‘DBM-T’ stock closing at a new 31/2-year high of $9.78 and West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. ‘WFG-T & N’ reaching a new all-time closing high of $139.20.
Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund ‘CHE.UN-T’ units rose to close at a new 6-year high of $11.82.
The Dow 30, S&P 500 and the TSX Composite reached respective new all-time closing highs of 44,911, 6032 and 25,648.
Meanwhile the CBOE Volatility Index or ‘VIX’ dropped to close at a new 4-month low of 13.51.
The Canadian Loonie fell to close at a new 42/3-year low of US$0.7072.
Natural gas and copper made the greatest gains in commodities on the week, while crude oil and silver fell the most.
All five of our North American Equity Markets were in the green going into the weekend.
For the Week – the DJI gained 1.39% to 44,911, with the S&P 500 up 1.06% to 6,032, and the NASDAQ ahead 2.88% to 19,218. In Canada – the TSX gained 0.80% to 25,648 and the TSX Venture rose 1.32% to 614. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell 11.76% to 13.51.
With currencies – the Canadian dollar fell 0.21% to US$0.7139, and the U.S. dollar ‘DXY’ lost 1.66% to 105.74. Â
With commodities – gold bullion fell 1.89% to US$2,658, as silver lost 2.20% to US$30.61, while copper gained 0.25% to US$4.08, and lithium dropped 0.99% to US$10,788. Crude lost 3.65% to US$68.63, and natural gas rose 6.71% to US$3.34, while uranium fell 1.21% to US$77.65. With soft commodities – lumber dropped 2.47% to US$592.
Overall – the CRB Commodities Index gained 2.99% to 345.