Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Friday was a good day to be a gold miner. Anything having to do with gold did well after May’s employment numbers were announced.
The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDXJ) gained 6.83% to $20.64. The index tracks publicly traded small- and medium-capitalization companies that generate most of their revenue from gold and silver mining. The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEARCA:GLD), which tracks the prices of physical gold, was up 3.88% to 157.50, a three-week high.
The stampede to gold was also good for the majors. The world’s number one gold miner by market capitalization, Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), was up 7.30% to $41.91 a share. Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) gained 7.03% to $8.53 a share, and Goldcorp jumped 8.57% to $40.93 a share.
The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index squeaked out a modest gain on the back of gold miners, closing 0.14% higher to 1.291.59.
The S&P/TSX was down, like the rest of the major markets, by 1.32% to 11,361.20.
In the US, the Dow Jones fell 2.22% to 12,118.57 and the S&P 500 was off 2.46% to 1,278.04.
Comex gold was up 3.73% to $1,622.50 and Comex silver was up 2.72% to $28.512, while crude oil was off 3.04% t 83.90 a share.
The US economy added just 69,000 jobs in May, less than half the consensus forecast of 150,000. The rate of unemployment ticked up from 8.1% to 8.2%.
