Wall Street rises, Dec. 5–9

U.S. indexes finished strong, despite lower gold and oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3% to close at 19,756.85. The S&P 500 Index also rose 3% to 2,259.53 and the Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 3.6% to 5,444.50. Spot gold, however, fell 1.5% to US$1,159.60 per ounce. Crude oil futures slipped 0.3% to US$51.50 per barrel.

U.S.-based platinum group metals miner Stillwater Mining soared 14.2% to US$17.32 per share, after announcing an all-cash, US$2.2-billion takeover by South Africa-focused Sibanye Gold. Under the agreement, the gold producer will pay US$18 per share for Stillwater. This marks a 23% premium to the prior Dec. 8 close, or 25% to Stillwater’s 30-day, volume-weighted average closing price. To fund the transaction and repay Stillwater’s convertible debentures, Sibanye has arranged a US$2.7-billion bridge loan. On the same day of the announcement, several U.S.-based law firms said they were investigating whether Stillwater got the best value for the company’s shareholders before agreeing to the transaction, among other things. Sibanye — one of the top-10 global gold producers — fell 16.2% to US$7.10 per share.

Dominion Diamond shares rose 8.9% to US$10.62. The company reported a third-quarter fiscal 2017 profit of US$28.8 million, or US34¢ per share, largely due to the sale of its Toronto office building. Removing the US46¢ per share gained from that sale, Dominion had an adjusted loss of US12¢ per share, BMO analyst Edward Sterck writes, adding that this missed his forecast loss of US10¢ per share. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was US$22.6 million above Sterck’s US$15.8-million estimate due to lower costs at the Diavik mine and a US$6.7-million insurance recovery at the Ekati mine, where a fire damaged the plant in June. Free cash flow during the quarter was negative US$35.4 million, excluding proceeds of US$65.1 million from the building sale.

Agnico Eagle Mines shares lost US$2.82 to close at US$38.28. On Dec. 5, Agnico agreed to buy 19.93% of G4G Capital in a private placement, where it would pay $1.20 per share. G4G can acquire claims across 21 properties, or 30% of the Yukon’s White Gold District.