U.S. stock markets continue to roll, May 19-23

U.S. stock markets shunned the bears and rewarded the bulls — while dismissing the old adage to ‘sell in May and go away.’ With stronger-than-expected manufacturing numbers out of Asia pointing to resilience in global growth, the three major U.S. indexes all edged higher for the period.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 116 points to 16,606.27 points, the S&P 500 Index was up 24 points to 1,900.53 points and the Nasdaq was up 105 points to 4,185.81 points.

Most of the gains came from strength in the U.S. small-cap sector, but miners contributed to the growth as well.

The frac sand story is hot amongst investors, with gains by established producers Hi-Crush Partners and U.S. Silica Holdings.

In the case of Hi-Crush Partners, the company outperformed U.S. Silica after opening its Whitehall mine expansion near Whitehall, Wis. — its third production facility in the state. Hi-Crush expanded Whitehall’s capacity to 2.6 million tonnes per year. Coverage on Hi-Crush was also initiated at Cowen and Co., BMO Capital Markets and Bank of America. All three firms came out with positive ratings and aggressive price targets, and the reports helped shares become the biggest dollar gainers for the period, up US$3.52 per share to US$48.47.

U.S. Silica, its rival in the frac sand space, also enjoyed upward momentum. The company continued its hot run over the period, with its stock up US$1.98 to US$49.44. The company’s stock is up 90% since February, with frac-sand demand exploding over the last few years, with more oil and natural gas wells getting the hydraulic-fracturing treatment that requires specialty sand.

But industrial sand didn’t hog the spotlight. Midway Gold ensured that a yellow-metal miner was among the top performers,  with shares up 19% to 98¢ after Midway secured US$55 million in project financing from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. The capital will help development at Pan — a low cost, oxidized, Carlin-style gold deposit to be mined with shallow open-pit methods and heap leaching. The US$161-million mine is 20% complete, and expected to enter production before 2015.

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