Latest news with #AgnicoEagleMinesLtd.
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
S&P/TSX composite cruises to record close on rise in energy stocks
Canada's main stock index rode energy stocks to a record close Monday, despite a cautious day that followed a month of major gains and a weekend checkered with angst over higher steel tariffs and developments in Ukraine and the Middle East. 'There was actually a fair bit of nervousness coming into today on the weekend, with some of the Trump tariff headlines that came out after the close on Friday and geopolitical tensions again with Russia and Ukraine,' said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at PenderFund Capital Management. But the S&P/TSX composite index climbed 213.91 points to 26,388.96, its highest level ever at day's end. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average overcame an initial drop to rise 35.41 points to 42,305.48. The S&P 500 index inched up 24.25 points to 5,935.94, while the Nasdaq composite increased 128.85 points to 19,242.61. 'In Canada it's more of a cautious tone, and I think the fact that we're higher — led by the commodities — is probably a decent positive, especially after such a big move that we had in markets in May,' Taylor said. The TSX posted its largest monthly gain since November in May, rising 5.56 per cent. That trajectory continued Monday, driven by gold and oil shares. Energy stocks flowed upward after OPEC-plus countries announced Saturday they would ramp up oil production less than some had feared. Meanwhile, Ukrainian attacks in Russia over the weekend raised uncertainty about the flow of oil and gas around the world, as did Iran's criticism of a report that revealed its growing stockpiles of enriched uranium. 'We're also seeing a bit of concern with the wildfires out west and whether that's going to take even more supply off the board,' Taylor said, pointing to blazes raging across the Prairies that have forced producers to remove non-essential staff and shut output. On the metals front, Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., Barrick Mining Corp. and Kinross Gold Corp. placed among the mining outfits whose shares rose by between 5.2 and 6.3 per cent on Monday. Taylor said geopolitical tension and a weaker U.S. dollar help explain their popularity, with the price of gold often seen as an inverse barometer of economic anxiety. After markets closed Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would double the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent this Wednesday. But the TSX industrials index ticked down only slightly. Taylor said markets now take the president's pronouncements with a grain of another commodity: salt. 'As much as no one likes to say it out loud, Trump has a history of walking back on a lot of these announcements that just seem to be thrown out there as trial balloons as much as anything else,' Taylor said. 'This might actually not come to pass.' This week, investors will be watching whether the Bank of Canada will cut interest rates on Wednesday. Market watchers will also be on the lookout for national employment figures slated to drop on June 6. 'There has been a bit of a concern around the health of the economy and whether we are going to start to see a slowdown and on the verge of looking at a recession, and that payroll number is probably going to be a good indicator,' Taylor said. The Canadian dollar traded for 72.96 cents US compared with 72.68 cents US on Friday. The July crude oil contract was up US$1.73 at US$62.52 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was up 24 cents US at US$3.69 per mmBTU. The August gold contract was up US$81.80 at US$3,397.20 an ounce and the July copper contract was up 18 cents US at US$4.86 a pound. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX: GSPTSE, TSX: CADUSD) — With files from The Associated Press
Winnipeg Free Press
25-04-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Miners set to reap rewards of high gold prices but remain cautious on spending
TORONTO – Record gold prices are translating into higher profits for Canadian producers and excitement about the potential for more growth, though miners remain cautious on spending. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. is among the first big producers to report results after a quarter that saw gold top US$3,000 an ounce, while this week it pushed to over US$3,500 an ounce for the first time on U.S. instability fears. The higher prices led Agnico Eagle, one of the world's biggest gold producers, to report record adjusted net income of $770 million for the quarter ending March 31, up from $377 million last year. While the price is translating to bumper profits, chief executive Ammar Al-Joundi emphasized on an earnings call Friday that it won't lead to any big ramp-ups in spending as the company keeps a tight focus on returning money to shareholders. The industry is still working to move past the shadow of the commodity boom over a decade ago that saw miners splash out on huge debt-fuelled takeovers that led to major writedowns when prices dropped. Dean Braunsteiner, EY Canada's assurance mining leader, says the high prices should lead to more mine expansions and the reopening of some shuttered projects, but early stage explorations will still struggle for attention. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:AEM)
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'A major psychological milestone': Gold surges above US$3000, expected to keep running up
The price of gold surpassed US$3,000 per ounce early on Friday, hitting a symbolic milestone that precious metals mining executives have long thought could rejuvenate investor interest in their sector. 'Gold breaking through US$3,000 is a major psychological milestone,' said Stephen Stewart, chair of Toronto-based Ore Group, which has a long history of starting gold exploration companies. 'While it may test this milestone multiple times before holding, history suggests that once it breaks through barriers decisively, it tends to keep running.' The price of bullion has been steadily rising for more than a year. In 2023, it dipped below US$2,000 per ounce, but has since climbed back and risen more than 38 per cent in the past year alone, spurred by central banks around the world buying bullion and increasingly by investors looking for a safe haven that is disconnected from the volatility of equity markets. Stewart predicted the first impact of gold hitting US$3,000 would be for the so-called majors — industry slang for gold mining companies that are already producing ore — to expect to post larger profits. That will attract more investors, strengthen their balance sheets and grease the wheels for more acquisitions, he said. Eventually, he said, the benefits will 'naturally trickle down' to junior miners, who are exploring for gold, but do not yet have a source of revenue. As a general rule, gold mining and exploration companies have not enjoyed the same bull run during the past few years that has propelled the yellow metal they mine to ever higher peaks, but that's changing. The VanEck Gold Mining ETF, a US$13-billion exchange-traded fund primarily indexed to companies that mine gold and silver, is up 42 per cent in the past year as of Friday morning, which is more than gold itself. The VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF, a US$4.7-billion fund indexed to precious metal explorers, has risen 50.5 per cent in the same timeframe. 'There's a real disconnect between people's perceptions and reality,' said Ammar Al-Joundi, chief executive of Toronto-based Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., which in February surpassed Colorado-based Newmont Corp. as the world's largest gold mining company and now has a market cap of more than $74 billion. Since 2000, the price of gold has multiplied 10 times, which Al-Joundi characterized as a greater value appreciation than the stock market, broadly speaking. But he said most gold mining equities have not risen tenfold during that period. 'The (gold mining) equities haven't kept up with gold, so people look at the equities and say gold is a crappy business, but actually gold is quite good,' he said. Al-Joundi said many gold miners have not managed their capital well in the past, having blown holes in their balance sheets during the last bull run between 2010 and 2012, when gold first poked above US$2,000 per ounce, only to settle down to a range between US$1,400 per ounce and US$1,200 per ounce until around 2019. Although gold poked through US$2,000 per ounce in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic shook investors, it ultimately dipped below that milestone until after Russia invaded Ukraine. Afterwards, Canada and many other Western countries imposed sanctions to freeze Russian assets. Many analysts say the current rise in gold prices can be attributed to increased purchases by central banks, particularly the People's Bank of China, which is often seen as a preemptive defensive action to preserve economic independence as geopolitical turbulence rises. For example, central banks in 2022 and 2023 purchased 1,082 tonnes and 1,037 tonnes of gold, respectively, compared to average annual purchases of 492 tonnes between 2012 and 2021. On top of that, United States President Donald Trump has stormed back into office and asserted a more aggressive foreign policy and economic strategy, including threatening — if not always imposing — a wide array of tariffs that have spooked equity markets. Since early February, the S&P 500 has declined 7.5 per cent while the Nasdaq composite has declined 10.2 per cent. 'Right now, what's impacting gold is just (market) volatility,' Al-Joundi said, 'and people are looking at what's happening geopolitically, which is causing the craziness in the stock markets, which is causing people to worry.' But he said the longer-term trend underpinning the rise in gold's price is that it is both a monetary asset and a hard asset. As governments, such as the U.S. and Canada, print more fiat currency while running larger deficits, he said gold prices will rise. 'I've never considered myself a gold bug,' he said. 'I've considered myself a hard asset bug … as long as governments are printing money like crazy, it will continue to go up.' Such sentiments are widespread in the industry. Eric Sprott, the Canadian billionaire who widely invests in the precious metal exploration sector, recently predicted gold would rise to US$8,000 per ounce because of the U.S. government's fiscal irresponsibility. 'We've had an incredibly bullish stock market, so everybody in the stock market is making a fortune, so they're all saying, 'What do I need gold for?'' he said. But he said it's been 'a whole new era' since gold poked through US$2,000 per ounce in 2023, and investors are once again realizing that it provides a safe haven from many forms of risk. Still, he said hitting US$3,000 per ounce may be more symbolic than meaningful because gold mining equities continue to be grossly undervalued. Many gold miners and explorers trade at market capitalizations that don't provide full value for the gold deposits they claim to have discovered, suggesting perhaps that investors are skeptical they can actually pull it all out of the ground. Precious metal CEOs hope price surge will boost investor interest Canada gets wakeup call that world 'unstable and dangerous place' Aluminum, steel sectors brace for destructive trade war with U.S. Sprott said many junior miners, which are exploring but not yet producing, trade at prices that value their gold assets at US$10 per ounce, which he called ridiculous. 'Ultimately, it won't be very significant,' he said about the US$3,000 per ounce milestone. 'In reality, gold can get to US$8,000.' • Email: gfriedman@ Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
14-02-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Agnico Nears World's No. 2 Gold Miner Spot With Output Targets
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. is threatening to snag the title of world's second-largest gold producer from one of its top rivals. The Canadian mining company aims to churn out 3.3 million to 3.5 million bullion ounces this year, according to full-year earnings posted Thursday. That's on par with Barrick Gold Corp., which is currently the No. 2 gold miner. Barrick expects output to decline while its giant mining complex in Mali remains shut. Newmont Corp., by far the world's top producer, expects to produce 6.4 million ounces in 2025.
