US markets fall, Sept. 13-17

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 22.84 points or 0.07% to finish the September 13 to September 17 trading week at 34,584.88 and the S&P 500 fell 25.59 points or 0.57% to 4,432.99. Spot gold declined US$33 per oz. or 1.85% to finish at US$1,753.80 per ounce.

Mosaic topped the list of gains with its shares rising US$1.83 to US$33.61. The fertilizer giant reported August sales volumes and revenue of its three business units for the month of August. The company posted sales volumes in its potash unit of 610,000 tonnes for US$196 million in revenue in August 2021. (In August 2020, it reported sales volumes of 741,000 tonnes of potash and revenue of US$154 million.) Its fertilizer division reported sales volumes of 1.13 million tonnes for revenue of US$602 million, compared with 1.27 million tonnes and revenue of US$393 million in August 2020. For phosphates, the company posted sales volumes of 666,000 tonnes for revenue of US$465 million in August, compared with 743,000 tonnes and revenue of US$261 million in August 2020.

Shares of Chevron Corp. gained US69¢ to US$96.76. The company announced that at a Brent oil price of US$60 per barrel, it expects to earn a double-digit return on capital employed by 2025 and generate US$25 billion of cash flow, above its dividend and capital spending, over the next five years. It also reaffirmed its 2028 upstream production greenhouse gas intensity targets, which equate to a forecast 35% reduction from 2016 levels. It also set targets for its new energy business to 2030. It plans to grow its renewable natural gas production to 40,000 MMbtu per day; increase renewable fuels production capacity to 100,000 barrels per day; boost hydrogen production to 150,000 tonnes per year; and increase carbon capture and offsets to 25 million tonnes per year. In other recent news, Chevron announced a framework to study and evaluate opportunities with Enterprise Product Partners L.P. for carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, utilization and storage from their business units in the United States. Enterprise Product Partners is one the largest publicly traded partnerships and a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, crude oil, refined products and petrochemicals.

Iamgold’s shares rose US17¢ toUS$2.33. The company reported assay results from seven holes (1,826 metres) of its 2021 winter exploration drilling in the Lac Gamble zone of the Rouyn gold project, 4 km south of Rouyn-Noranda in Quebec and about 45 km from its Westwood operation. Iamgold has optioned the project from Yorbeau Resources. Highlights included 7.7 metres grading 2.5 grams gold per tonne starting 142.3 metres downhole in hole GA-21-779; 5 metres of 5.5 grams gold in drillhole GA-21-780 from 108.2 metres; and 3.2 metres of 16.1 grams gold in GA-21-782 from 443.5 metres depth.