Market Update & Important Indicators
U.S. stocks finished higher Friday, but the Dow industrials and S&P 500 fell for the second week in a row, the first back-to-back declines since the market hit a low in February. The Nasdaq Composite posted its third week of declines in a row. Stocks have struggled to gain traction after a multimonth rally, dragged down by downbeat economic readings, swings in oil prices and declining corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged nearly 16% from Feb. 11, its low for the year, to April 20, its 2016 high. Since then, the blue-chip index has fallen roughly 2%. Given "the magnitude of the rally that you had from the mid-February lows, a little consolidation is to be expected," said Ben Pace, chief investment officer at HPM Partners. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.45%, the S&P 500 rose 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4%.
European stock markets ended a choppy session mostly lower on Friday, with a downbeat reading on U.S. jobs growth outweighing a late-day rally in oil prices. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.4% to close at 331.67, ending down 2.9% for the week–marking the worst weekly performance for the pan-European benchmark since the week ended Feb. 12, FactSet data showed
Shares in Asia mostly edged lower Friday amid caution before a key U.S. jobs report, but China stocks were down more sharply over rising defaults and regulatory concerns. The Shanghai Composite Index ended down 2.8%, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index sank 3.65%. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed 0.25% lower, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index sank 1.7%. Korea's Kospi was closed in observance of a public holiday. Stocks in Asia ended on a tepid note for the week, which was highlighted by weaker China manufacturing data, volatile oil prices and Japan's market being closed for three days. Investors throughout Asia "are overly negative because they're overly worried on China," said Arthur Kwong, head of Asian equities for BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
Australian shares notched a fourth straight weekly advance after edging higher Friday, driven by an update from the central bank that weighed on the local currency. After opening the day down as much as 1.5%, the S&P/ASX 200 steadily recovered to finish up 12.9 points, or 0.2%, at 5292.0. That left the index up 0.8% for the week after it gained 3.3% in April. The Reserve Bank of Australia earlier in the day sharply revised down its forecasts for inflation over the coming years, and said it was now watching economic data closely to gauge if further policy adjustment is needed. The bank on Tuesday cut its key cash rate for the first time in a year, lowering it a quarter percentage point to a record low 1.75%.
The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract was up 0.5% at $4,810 a metric ton at the PM kerb close. The metal was down for most of the day in London. Nonfarm payrolls saw their smallest gain since September of last year in April, rising by just 160,000 jobs. Among the other base metals, aluminum was down 0.65% at $1,582, zinc was up 1.5% at $1,884 a ton, nickel was up 0.50% at $9,025 a ton, lead was up 0.96% at $1,754 a ton and tin was up 0.43% at $17,476 a ton.
In this Issue
Dakota Minerals (DKO) | Spodumene, you know what I mean| SPEC BUY
Argonaut recently visited Dakota Mineral’s (DKO) Lynas Find lithium project, in the Pilbara region, Western Australia. DKO’s tenements directly abut Pilbara Minerals (PLS) Pilgangoora Lithium-Tantalite Project which has a defined Resource of 80Mt @ 1.3% Li2O and 195ppm Ta2O5. Pilgangoora is one of the largest hard rock lithium deposits globally. Spodumene, the primary lithium bearing mineral, is visible in outcropping pegmatites which propagate into DKO’s tenements. A first pass drilling campaign is nearing completion and first assays returned high grades averaging 1.8% Li2O. Speculative Buy recommendation.
Recent Contacts & Presentations
Red 5 (RED), Medusa Mining (MML), Saracen Mineral Holdings (SAR), Paradigm BioPharmaceuticals (PAR), Pilbara Minerals (PLS), Energia Minerals (EMX), Deep Yellow (DYL), Paladin Energy (PDN),), West Africa Resources (WAF), Finders (FND), Credo Resources (CRQ) , Orthocell (OCC), Capricorn Metals (CMM), Gold Road Resources (GOR), Otto Energy (OEL), Dakota Minerals (DKO), Cradle Resources (CXX), Kidman Resources (KDR)
