A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, August 30th

‘That’s a Wrap’

By Rod Blake

When the brokers, traders, investors and portfolio managers closed up shop last Friday, August 23rd, it seemed clear that not only had the North American major equity markets shrugged off the sharp US Fed induced selloff earlier in the month, but were now, in the case of the American markets, only a few points below the all-time closing highs set in July. While in Canada, the TSX Composite established a new all-time closing high of 23,286. This surprising rally even filtered down to the resource sector where a softer U.S. dollar (DXY) helped propel the price of gold bullion to close at a new all-time high of US$2,510 a troy ounce (t oz).

The way I see it – Timing is everything, and while it is nice to see the markets recover so quickly from what seemed a very violent correction, one must note that we are just coming into the traditional September – October correction period for the markets. It was 2-years ago in October were the U.S. markets bottomed and the resulting 22-month artificial intelligence (AI) led rally to the recent all-time highs began.

As for gold – while the gold bugs may be cheering now, gold is also entering its traditional September – October correction period. If the yellow metal can hold near these record high levels during the correction period then that could form a very strong base for a significant rally going into 2025.

Gold’s bull run continued into the new week with the price of the world’s only true currency rising to close at a new all-time high of US$2,525 a troy ounce (t oz).

Going the other way – the U.S dollar Index or ‘DXY’ fell to close at a new 1-year low of 100.55.

Gold industry giant Newmont Corporation ‘NEM-N’ shares’ rose to a new closing high of US$53.39.

Vizsla Silver Corp. ‘VZLA-V’ continued its string of impressive assays from the company’s Panuco silver/gold project in Mexico. This time the Vancouver, BC based mineral developer reported diamond drill hole CS-24-381A returned 3,698 grams per ton silver per tonne and 41.20 grams of gold per tonne across a true width of 6.25 metres.

Goldcliff Resources Corp. ‘GCN-V’ announced a $240,000 private placement financing of some $240,000 to help carry out work programs at the company’s Kettle Valley, Aurora West and Ainsworth projects.

Atlius Minerals Corp. ‘ALS-T’ stock rose to a new 21/4-year closing high of $24.30 after the St. Johns, NL based royalty company impressed the street with its 2nd-qarter financials.

Sighting unfair trade practices – the Canadian government announced it will impose a 100% tariff on made in China electric vehicles (EV) as of October 1st.

Lithium dropped to close at a new 31/2-year low of US$10,375 a tonne (t).

Which no doubt helped investors to drive the closing price of Lithium Royalty Corp. ‘LIRC-T’ down to a new all time low of $6.01.

Uranium fell to a new 2-year closing low of US$78.85 a pound (lb).

The key Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 2-rigs in the past week to 583, down by 48-rigs from this time last year. up north – the number of Canadian active rigs was up by one rig to 220, up by 33-rigs from one year ago.

TransAlta Corporation ‘TA-T & N’ stock rose to a new 13/4-year closing high of $12.07.

Aecon Group Inc. ‘ARE-T’ shares’ rose to close at a new 3-year high of $18.69.

The Dow 30 and TSX Composite rose to respective new all-time closing highs of 41,563 and 23,349.

Natural gas and lithium topped the positive commodities on the week, while uranium and silver were off the most.

The North American markets were quiet and mixed going into Labour Day Long Weekend.

For the Week – the DJI gained 0.94% to 41,563, with the S&P 500 up 0.23% to 5,548 while the NASDAQ lost 0.92% to 17,714. Across the line – the TSX rose 0.49% to 23,346 and the TSX Venture lost 1.73% to 568. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell 5.42% to 15.00.

With currencies – the Canadian dollar gained 0.14% to US$0.7412, and the U.S. dollar ‘DXY’ rose 1.03% to 101.73.

With commodities – gold bullion lost 0.28% to US$2,503, with silver down 3.22% to US$28.86, as copper fell 1.19% to US$4.15, while lithium gained 0.37% to US$10,510. Crude oil fell 1.66% to US$73.59, while natural gas gained 5.94% to US$2.14, and uranium dropped 2.57% to US$79.50. With soft commodities – lumber fell 2.57% to US$493. Overall – the CRB Commodities Index rose 1.23% to 329.

And finally – The Canadian federal government’s recent announcement of a 100% tariff on imported Chinese electric vehicles (EV) seems somewhat hypocritical, in that on one hand, the feds are forcing Canadians to convert to EVs, but on the other hand, they are seemingly going out of their way to discourage inexpensive EV purchases.