Gold and potash dominate U.S. equities, Oct. 25-29

It was a ho-hum week for U.S. equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14.07 points or 0.13% to close at 11,118.49, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.18 point or 0.02% to finish at 1,183.26. The Nasdaq was up 28.02 points, or 1.13%, to end at 2,507.41. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver index rose 7.48 points or 3.8% to 204.30 during the Oct. 25-29 trading week, as the price of gold advanced US$32.10 per oz. to close in New York on Oct. 29 at US$1,359.80 per oz. A number of gold companies posted record third-quarter financial results on the back of significantly higher gold prices.

Agnico-Eagle Mines topped the list of companies posting the biggest value gain of the trading week, climbing US$7.28 per share to US$77.59 after announcing record net income in the third quarter of US$121.5 million, or US$0.73 per share. Agnico suffered a US$17 million loss (US$0.11 a share) in the same quarter last year. The turnaround was driven in part by a 140% year-on-year increase in production to 285,178 oz. gold and a 233% increase in gross mine profit.

Goldcorp shares also jumped, adding US$2.55 apiece to close the week at US$44.59 following news that third quarter revenues jumped 28% year-on-year to US$885.8 million on gold sales of 568,100 oz. Operating cash flow before working capital changes came in at a record US$470.6 million.

Barrick Gold was also up US$2.12 to US$48.09 per share after reporting that its net income hit a record US$837 million (US$0.85 per share) in the third quarter, while operating cash flow reached an all-time high of US$1.28 billion, 40% higher than the US$911 million in the year-earlier period.

Thirteen companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange reached new 52-week highs during the trading week, including two potash companies. Mosaic, which operates three mines in Saskatchewan and two in the United States, gained US$7.20 per share to US$73.16 on no news. Intrepid Potash, which has two production facilities in Utah and three in New Mexico, rose US$4.95 to US$34.33 per share, also on no news. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan added US$3.30 per share to close the week at US$145.09.

Rare Element Resources was the third most actively traded stock with its shares closing $1.25 higher at US$11.36 per share. Rare Element has roughly $12 million in cash and no debt and is developing its Bear Lodge REE-gold project in Wyoming.