On a day when the markets fretted because not enough people spent Black Friday in the shopping mall, the most “precious” place to be trading was in gold stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.29% while the S&P 500 was off 0.68%, and the Nasdaq, lower by 1.34%, was the weakest of the indices, thanks in large part on the back of reports showing that Black Friday sales were off by 11%.
Gold and silver stocks, on the other hand, were extremely strong, with gold having its best day since 2013; energy stocks also found their legs after a couple of rough sessions. Among the best stocks bucking the downtrend on the Monday after Thanksgiving were Goldcorp Inc. (USA) (GG), Coeur Mining Inc (CDE), and Chevron Corporation (CVX).
Goldcorp Inc (USA) (GG)
Goldcorp was among the leading precious metals stocks today, up more than 8% after declaring a 5-cent-per-share dividend for the month of December (GG stock pays out monthly). Shareholders of record at the market close on Dec. 11, 2014 are eligible to receive the dividend payment on Dec. 19, 2014.
After dropping from $29 to $18 recently, GG stock has found some firmer footing around the $21 level.
Coeur Mining Inc (CDE)
CDE stock blasted up almost 11% today amid news that it is in advanced talks to buy Paramount Gold and Silver Corp (PZG), which will greatly enhance its mining presence in Mexico. Lower precious metals costs are spurring consolidation among companies in that sector.
CDE stock has been extremely volatile over the past several days, and the stock has been cut in half since July. Similarly to Goldcorp, today’s good news seemed to put a floor in place for CDE just above $4 a share. CDE stock closed right at its 50-day moving average at $4.56.
Chevron Corporation (CVX)
CVX stock was up more than 2.5%, buoyed by a reversal of oil prices off their morning lows. Crude oil began the day weaker, but rallied over 4% by afternoon, sending several of the oil stocks higher for the day. It was the strongest day for crude oil since 2012. A possible slowdown of drilling and a weaker U.S. dollar were two reasons cited for the surge up to $69 per barrel of crude oil.
Chevron, which had dropped by more than $4 on Friday, rallied to close at $111.69. With the recent price drop from $132 to current levels, the dividend on CVX stock is now sitting just below the 4% yield level, making it quite attractive to investors again.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
