| Index | Close | % Change |
|---|
| Dow | 39044.17 | 0.1 |
| Dow Transports | 15820.58 | -0.39 |
| Dow Utilities | 859.18 | 0.43 |
| S&P 500 | 5165.35 | -0.19 |
| Nasdaq | 16177.77 | -0.54 |
| Nasdaq 100 | 18068.47 | -0.83 |
| Russell 2000 | 2069.87 | 0.21 |
| VIX Index | 13.78 | -0.43 |
| 10 Year Gov't Yield | 4.19 | 0.92 |
| Spot Gold | 2173.27 | 0.69 |
| Spot Silver | 24.95 | 3.35 |
| GDX-Gold Miners | 30.29 | 2.4 |
| Crude Oil | 79.73 | 2.8 |
| Dollar Index | 102.83 | -0.12 |
| Euro Spot | 1.09 | 0.19 |
| Japanese 10 Year | 0.78 | 0.77 |
| Shanghai SE | 3043.84 | -0.4 |
| Long Bond 20-year | 120.34 | -0.34 |
|
Commodities Perk Up
03-13-2024I had to leave with a couple of hours to go again today, but starting tomorrow my schedule will be back to normal. As for the stock market, it was under a bit of pressure early on, but mostly that was the Nasdaq, which lost 0.5% through midday, as many of the high-flyers were leaking. This week we have a fair amount of noise once again, as there's a very big option expiration on Friday.
Raw Materials Getting a Little Cooked
Away from stocks, green paper was about flat while fixed income was a little bit lower. The commodity sector was interesting, as copper made a 2% move and is now flirting with $4 a pound again. Oil also picked up its head, gaining a couple of bucks. In fact, the whole industrial commodity sector has had a bit of a pulse lately. Perhaps that means that the world is getting slightly stronger, even as the U.S. continues to flop along in a stagflationary manner.
Turning to the precious metals, they were higher, with silver gaining 3% (!) compared to a little less than 1% for gold, and the miners were higher as well. Please check the box scores to see how everything actually finished.
Just a Little Cutting Down to Size
In miner-specific news, Wesdome was weaker, though I couldn't really tell you why. It announced its quarterly results and they were just fine (almost all of the important details were known already). My guess about the selling is related to the fact that it was supposedly up "so much" on the year. I saw a couple of reports noting how strong it has been so far in 2024, but that's certainly in part because the price has been so depressed.
In any case, this is just one of the continuing annoying features of the sector, where almost regardless of what a company says, its shares get sold on its results. We saw something similar with Alamos, and Agnico wasn't all that different, although it subsequently saw a decent move. In any case, anyone wanting to own more Wesdome ought to take advantage of this absurd selloff.
Positions in stocks mentioned: long WDOFF, AGI, AEM, long AEM calls.