Gold price down, US markets up, May 1-5

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.32% to 21,006.94 and the S&P 500 climbed 0.63% to 2,399.29. The Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index fell 3.39% to 80.28 as gold prices weakened. New York spot gold dropped 3.14%, or US$39.80 per oz., to finish the trading week at US$1,227.90 per oz.

Shares of Arch Coal jumped US69¢ to US$70.93 on the back of solid first-quarter results. Net income in the first quarter reached US$51.7 million, or US$2.03 per diluted share, compared with net income of US$33.4 million, or US$1.31 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2016. (In the first quarter of 2016, the company posted a net loss of US$206.70 million, for a net loss of per diluted share of US$9.71.)  Revenues totaled $600.9 million for the three months ended March 31, compared with US$428.106 million for the first three months of 2016. The board has approved a quarterly cash dividend of US35¢ per share starting in the second quarter and has also given the green light to a share repurchase program, authorizing the company to purchase up to US$300 million of its outstanding common stock. The program has no time limit and the company says it expects to fund future share repurchases with cash on hand and cash generated from operations.

Tahoe Resources posted record results in the first quarter, driving its shares up US54¢ to US$8.60. Cash flow from operating activities before changes in working capital reached a record US$132.9 million, or US43¢ per share, an increase of 78% and 79%, respectively, over the fourth quarter of 2016. Adjusted earnings for the three months ended March 31 hit US$75.1 million, or US24¢ per share, up from adjusted earnings of US$18.4 million, or US6¢ per share, in the fourth quarter of 2016. Revenues jumped to US$251 million, a 33% increase from the fourth quarter of 2016. Strong results at Escobal helped push total silver production to 5.7 million ounces, up 17% from the previous quarter. Total cash costs and all-in sustaining costs were US$5.72 and US$8.11 per oz. silver produced, respectively, net of byproduct credits, better than the US$6.48 and US$9.76 per oz. recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016. Gold production reached 119,100 ounces, at total cash costs of US$574 per gold oz. produced and AISC’s of US$860 per gold oz. produced. The company paid US$18.7 million in dividends to shareholders in the first quarter.