US stocks surge, May 23–27

U.S. indexes gained ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen hinted at a possible interest rate hike in the coming months.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 2.1% to 17,873.22, and the S&P 500 Index rose 2.3% to 2,099.06 — the best performance for both since March. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 3.4% to 4,933.50, in its best week since February. The July contract for crude oil hit an intraday high of US$50.21 per barrel, before closing at US$49.33 — a 1.3% weekly gain. The July contract for Brent crude also popped above US$50 per barrel to US$49.32.

Pittsburgh-based natural gas producer Consol Energy rose 12.8%, or US$1.68 per share, to close at US$14.85, on no new news. In late April, it reported a first-quarter adjusted net loss attributable to continuing operations of US$16 million, or US7¢ per share. This compares to last year’s adjusted net income of US$85 million, or US37¢ per share. On April 1, Consol closed the US$420-million sale of its Buchanan mine and other metallurgical coal assets to Coronado IV LLC.

Hecla Mining shares slipped US33¢ to US$3.91 on 43.2 million shares traded, after announcing a US$37-million, all-share acquisition of Mines Management for its large Montanore silver-copper deposit in northwest Montana. Hecla is offering 0.2218 of its share for each Mines Management share held. The transaction should close in the third quarter.

Gold companies saw the biggest value drop, as spot gold fell US$39.10, or 3.1%, to US$1,212.80 per ounce. Franco Nevada led the value losers, dropping US$2.71 to US$62.81 per share. Shares in Agnico Eagle Mines and Newmont Mining retreated US$2.04 and US$1.77 to finish at US$44.14 and US$31.96, both on no news.

Kinross Gold tumbled 14.9% to US$4.23 per share, after a strike by its unionized employees at the Tasiast gold mine in Mauritania. Kinross said it is open to resume negotiations with union representatives, and does not expect the strike to affect expansion.

Seabridge Gold gave back US$1.12 per share to finish at US$12.03, after outlining its 2016 exploration plans at the KSM gold-copper project in northwestern B.C. The 10,000-metre drill program could extend Deep Kerr’s block cave resource 800 metres south.