Morning Market Breakdown, March 15: Commodities Lose Traction

Despite growth on Wednesday (March 14), the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) closed only narrowly in the green that day at 15,653.61, a 6.47-point gain.

The Canadian index made modest gains on Thursday (March 15) morning when it picked up 41.42 points and shifted to 15,695.03.

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) fell to the red by close on Wednesday, hitting 827.28, a 1.77-point loss. The TSXV bounced back on Thursday morning when it picked up 1.9 points to hit 829.18.

One of the biggest contributing factors to Wednesday’s TSX struggle was Suncor Energy (TSX:SU,NYSE:SU), whose share price lost 15 cents after the company announced that its Syncrude project in Alberta is under maintenance and will therefore run at reduced rates for the first quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) faced another negative close on Wednesday, falling 248.91 points to land at 24,758.12. It brushed itself off on Thursday morning, however, gaining 60.29 points to reach 24,818.41.

Trade war concerns dragged down the Dow yesterday, with aerospace company Boeing (NYSE:BA) dropping 2.5 percent following a report that US President Donald Trump wants to put $60 billion of tariffs on Chinese goods.

The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) stumbled to Wednesday’s close, dropping 15.83 points to hit 2,749.48. It clawed its way back to the green on Thursday morning with a 2.18-point gain, hitting 2,751.66.

Note: All numbers shown above were accurate as of 10:00 a.m. EST.

Daily metals

Gold took a small fall on Wednesday, closing at US$1,323.83 an ounce. Thursday morning continued the commodity’s slippery slope as it dropped to US$1,318.74. Silver also hit a snag on Wednesday when it closed at US$16.54 an ounce. It continued to fall on Thursday morning, reaching US$16.44.

Copper simmered on Wednesday to close at US$3.15 per pound. By 10:00 a.m. EST on Thursday, it had plummeted to US$3.11.

Major miner news

• IAMGOLD (TSX:IMG,NYSE:IAG): The company opted to renew its preliminary short-form base shelf prospectus with securities regulators throughout Canada (excluding Quebec), and made the equivalent registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This will allow the company to make offerings of assets such as common shares, first or second preference shares and warrants of up to US$1 billion.

• B2Gold (TSX:BTO,NYSEAMERICAN:BTG): B2Gold announced its Q4 and annual operational and financial results for 2017. Highlights include the completion of construction at the Fekola mine in Mali, which was finished over three months ahead of schedule. B2Gold also achieved record annual consolidated gold production of 630,565 ounces.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.