A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, February 28th, 2025

‘That’s a Wrap’

By Rod Blake

As the market participants prepared for the final week of trading this February, there was a collective feeling of trepidation in that twice in the past few months – the S&P 500, NASDAQ and TSX Composite have established new all-time closing highs – only to sell off hard, sometimes the very next day. Previously these selloffs represented buying opportunities as the markets managed to climb back higher. But how long can this cycle keep repeating itself.

The way I see it – We used to describe markets like these as ‘All In’. It was a term we used when we thought the markets were fully invested by the last speculators who couldn’t stand it any longer and had to buy into the action. A good indicator of an ‘All In’ market is one where the market works hard to establish a new high only to sell off quickly as there are very few buyers left to take over from those who want out. Much like the major markets we have today. We’ve had two-years of an artificial intelligence (AI) induced, followed by lower interest rate anticipated bull market, that just had a Donald Trump presidential victory late surge. Previously, buying the dips in this market was always rewarded. Now suddenly – IA isn’t all that exciting, U.S. interest rate declines are stalling, and the Trump enthusiasm seems to be wearing a little thin. I think we’re late in this bull’s cycle and to me – these markets need a new catalyst in order to move much higher. They may move higher again or they may not. Just be careful not to be the last investor to be ‘All In’…

Gold bullion began the week by rising to close at a new all-time high of US$2,953 a troy ounce (t oz.).

All of which no doubt helped the price of B2Gold Corp. ‘BTO-T’ & ‘BTG–N.A’ stock to reach a new 1^1/3-year closing high of $4.10 –

And Lundin Gold Inc. ‘LUG-T’ and Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. ‘WPM-T & N’ to close at respective new all-time highs of $41.68 and $100.81.

Usually with a takeover or merger there is a clear winner for shareholders as one company’s stock price gains significantly as it is considered to have received a premium for accepting the deal. With this merger however, it looked at first glance that no one seemed to win as – Equinox Gold Corp. ‘EQX-T & N.A’ shares’ rose by only $0.01 or 0.10% to $9.70, and the stock price of Calibre Mining Corp. ‘CXB-T’ fell by $0.12 or 3.88% to 2.97 after the two Vancouver, BC based miners agreed to a merger of equals to become Canada’s second largest gold producer.

The week had some outstanding drill hole news with –

Arizona Sonoran Copper Company Inc. ‘ASCU-T’ reporting that infill drill hole ECM-299 at its Parks/Salyer copper deposit in Arizona returned 391 metres (m) of 0.74% copper per tonne (Cu/t) of continuous mineralization.

And Collective Mining Ltd. ‘CNL-T & N’ share price rose by $0.69 or 8.06% to a new all-time closing high of $9.25 after the Toronto, On based explorer’s drill hole APC104-D5 returned 497.35 metres (m) of 3.01 grams per tonne gold equivalent (g/t AuEq) from the Apollo system at the company’s Guayabales Project in Caldes, Colombia.

Uranium issues continued to suffer with NexGen Energy Ltd. ‘NXE-T & N’ falling to a new 5½-month closing low of $7.55, while Energy Fuels Inc. ‘EFR-T’ & ‘UUUU-N.A’ dropped to close at a new 4-year low of $5.78.

Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. ‘INE-T’ stock price surged up by $4.77 or 54.76% to close at a new 1½-year high of $13.48 after the Longueuil, QC based company agreed to be taken over by Québec’s CDPQ in an all-cash deal valued at some $10-billion.

Crude oil fell to a new 2½-month closing low of US$68.55 a barrel (bbl).

Baytex Energy Corp. ‘BTE-T’ fell to close at a new 3½-year low of $3.18.

This as the closely followed Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 1-rig over the week to 593, down by 36-rigs from this time last year. Across the line – the number of Canadian active rigs rose by 4-rigs during the week to 248, up by 17-rigs from one year ago.

Lumber rose to close at a new 2^1/3-year high of US$624 per 1,000 board feet (mbf).

North America’s largest coal exporting facility – Westshore Terminals Investment Corp. ‘WTE-T’ shares’ rose to a new 10-month closing high of $25.66.

Lithium fell to close at a new 1½-month low of US$10,307 a tonne (t).

Going the other way – Frontier Lithium Inc. ‘FL-T’ rose to a new 5-month closing high of $0.65 on word the Sudbury, ON based company had secured a $3.35-million loan to help facilitate the company’s expansion plans.

Lumber and uranium pulled commodities higher over the week, while natural gas and silver were the greatest drag.

The U.S. Dollar Index or ‘DXY’ dropped to close at a new 2½-month low of 106.27.

After many daily gyrations – the Dow 30 and TSX Composite has weekly gains, while the S&P 500, NASDAQ and TSX Venture were all negative.

For the Week – the DJI gained 0.95% to 43,841, while the S&P 500 fell 0.96% to 5,955, and the NASDAQ lost 3.47% to 18,847. Up north – the TSX gained 0.98% to 25,393 and the TSX Venture lost 3.15% to 615.

The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX gained 7.80% to 19.63.

With currencies – the Canadian dollar lost 1.59% to US$0.6913, while the U.S. Dollar Index ‘DXY’ rose 0.87% to 107.57. 

With commodities – gold bullion lost 2.72% to US$2,856, and silver fell 4.33% to US$31.14, as copper fell 0.22% to US$4.53, and lithium lost 1.80% to US$10,307. Crude oil lost 0.33% to US$70.01, and natural gas fell 10.09% to US$3.83, while uranium gained 1.00% to US$65.55. With soft commodities – lumber gained 2.20% to US$635.

Overall – the CRB Commodities Index fell 3.13% to 371.