Wall Street rises, July 5-8

U.S. equities drove higher for a second week as investors recovered from post-Brexit jitters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 197.37 points, or 1.1%, to 18,146.74 points, and the S&P 500 Index gained 26.95 points, or 1.3%, to 2,129.9 points. The Nasdaq Composite rose 94.19 points, or 1.9%, to 4,956.76 points.

Part of the gains were due to speculation on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve might delay an interest rate hike to December, boosting gold and silver prices 1.9% and 2.6% to US$1,366.33 per oz. gold and US$20.09 per oz. silver.

Gold companies were among the top-value gainers as gold regained investors’ favour: DRDGold shares rose US$2.29 to US$8.75, AngloGold Ashanti shares climbed US$1.80 to US$20.84 and Sibanye Gold gained US$1.45 to US$15.74 per share.

Shares of Coeur Mining rose US$1.35 to US$12.61 on strong quarterly production results from its global operations. The company produced 4 million oz. silver and 92,726 oz. gold, up 17.6% and 18.8%, compared to its first quarter. Silver production from Coeur’s silver stream on CBH Resources’ Endeavor silver and base metal mine in Australia declined 71% during the reported period, after curtailed production prompted by lower lead and zinc prices. The company expects to keep its 2016 production guidance of 33.8 million to 36.8 million equivalent oz. silver.

Iamgold saw 48.7 million shares change hands before closing up US37¢ to US$4.84 per share after drill results from its Boto gold exploration project in eastern Senegal. The company drilled four deep diamond holes that tested beneath the current resource pit shell, with one hole intercepting 84 metres of 4.12 grams gold per tonne, including 22 metres of 11.25 grams gold. The project hosts an indicated resource of 27.7 million tonnes of 1.8 grams gold for 1.56 million oz. gold, and an inferred resource of 2.9 million tonnes of 1.3 grams gold for 125,000 oz. gold.

Shares of potash producer and distributor Agrium lost US$1.48 before closing at US$89.25 on news of an agreement to acquire 18 U.S. agricultural retail locations, with US$150 million in annual revenue. Agrium’s president and CEO Chuck Magro said the locations are in regions where the company has “limited presence.”