A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, December 20th
‘That’s a Wrap’
By Rod Blake
‘Twas only a week before Christmas and all through the investment houses – the brokers. investors, traders and portfolio managers were getting worried that the highly anticipated Santa Clause Rally had yet to appear.
The way I see it – Could it be that the extended artificial intelligence (AI) generated bull market is finally coming to an end? It’s too early to say just yet, but except for some small weekly gains for the NASDAQ, the major North American markets are flat to down so far in December. Meanwhile, the underrated TSX Venture Exchange has so far come through the brunt of the annual tax loss selling season still only a few points below its yearly high of 622 set in October. Perhaps Santa has the Venture in his sights…
The NASDAQ Exchange rose to a new closing high of 20,174.
Imperial Metals Corp. ‘III-T’ stock fell to close at a new 2-year low of $1.86.
Mandalay Resources Corp. ‘MND-T’ stock rose by $0.36 or 8.18% to close a new 71/2-year high of $4.76 after the Toronto, ON based miner released a positive gold and Antimony production guidance for 2025.
Collective Mining Ltd. ‘CNL-T & N’ shares rose by $0.32 or 5.93% to close at a new 11/4-year high of $5.72 after the Toronto, On based mineral explorer released encouraging drill hole assays from the Apollo System of the company’s Guayabales Project in Caldes, Columbia including hole APC104-D1 that returned 534.40 metres (m) of 2.70 grams per tonne gold equivalent (g/t AuEq).
Lion Electric Co. ‘LEV-T & N’ finally succumbs to reality as the beleaguered Montreal, QC based electric bus company filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
Some utility companies caught investor attention such as TransAlta Corporation ‘TA-T’ & TAC-N’ rising to a new 13-year closing high of $20.55.
Torex Gold Resources Inc. ‘TXG-T’ shareholders got a Christmas surprise as their investment rose by $1.94 or 7.16% to $29.05 on word that mining suspensions had been removed and production was recommencing at the Toronto, ON based miner’s Morelos Complex in Mexico.
Skeena Resources Ltd. ‘SKE-T & N’ reported the Vancouver, BC base mineral developer had received a key Bulk Technical Sample permit from the British Columbia Ministry of Mining and Critical Minerals to extract a 10,000-tonne bulk sample from the company’s flagship Eskay Creek Gold-Silver Project in northern British Columbia.
The Grinch in the form of the U.S. Fed stole the market’s Christmas by indicating that future interest rate cuts may be few and far between.
Which sent the U.S Dollar Index ‘DXY’ to close at a new 2-year high of 108.40.
Which pushed the CBOE Volatility Index or ‘VIX’ surging up to close at a new 4-month high of 27.62.
And helped silver to fall to a new 3-month closing low of US$29.05 a troy ounce (t oz).
Impact Silver Corp. ‘IPT-V’ shares’ fell to close at a new 3-month low of $0.205.
Minera Alamos Inc. ‘MAI-V’ stock dropped to a new 3-month closing low of $0.26.
While copper fell to close at a new 3-month low of US$4.02 a pound (lb).
Capstone Copper Corp. ‘CS-T’ and Hudbay Minerals Inc. ‘HBM-T & N’ stock fell to close at respective new 3-month lows of $8.58 and $11.36.
Uranium dropped to a new 13-month closing low of US$73.85 a pound.
And nickel fell to close at a new 4-year low of US$6.86 a pound.
The Canadian Loonie dropped to close at a new 41/2-year low of US$0.6921.
Baytex Energy Corp. ‘BTE-T & N’ shares’ fell to a new 31/4-year closing low of $3.25 and Veren Inc. ‘VRN-T & N’ stock dropped to close at a new 3-year low of $6.39.
Vermilion Energy Inc. ‘VET-T & N’ stock rose by $0.26 or 2.08% to close at $12.75 after the Calgary, AB petroleum company pleased the street with its 2025 guidance and better still – raised the company’s quarterly dividend by 8% to $0.13.
Natural gas closed at a new 14-month high of US$3.74 per 1,000 British thermal units (mmBtu).
This as the closely followed Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs was unchanged in the past week at 589, down by 31-rigs from this time last year. Across the line – the number of Canadian active rigs fell by 25-rigs to 166, up by 20-rigs from one year ago. Â
Fission Uranium Corp. ‘FCU-T’ shares’ rose by $0.04 or 5.56% to close at $0.76 on word that the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry had approved the Kelowna, BC based company’s take over by Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd.
Patriot Battery Metals Inc. ‘PMET-T’ stock surged up by $0.76 or 28.68% to close at $3.41 on word the auto giant Volkswagen Group was investing $69-million to acquire a 9.9% equity interest in the Vancouver, BC based mineral developer and its prized Shaakichiuwaanaan Lithium Project in Quebec.
Natural gas and lumber made the greatest commodities gains on the week, while uranium and silver fell the most.
While the North American equity markets rallied on Friday, they were all still negative going into the weekend.
For the Week – the DJI lost 2.20% to 42,840, with the S&P 500 off 1.98% to 5,931, and the NASDAQ down 1.78% to 19,573. In Canada – the TSX lost 2.67% to 24,599 and the TSX Venture fell 3.45% to 587. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX gained 32.95% to 18.36.
With currencies – the Canadian dollar fell 0.97% to US$0.6956, while the U.S. dollar Index ‘DXY’ gained 0.82% to 107.83.Â
With commodities – gold bullion fell 1.02% to US$2,621, as silver lost 3.44% to US$29.51, and copper lost 2.89% to US$4.03, and lithium fell 1.25% to US$10,363. Crude oil fell 2.19% to US$69.54, while natural gas rose 14.37% to US$3.74, and uranium lost 3.59% to US$73.85. With soft commodities – lumber gained 5.36% to US$570.
Overall – the CRB Commodities Index lost 0.28% to 351.
I won’t be reporting next week so I’ll take his space to wish all a very Merry Christmas!