U.S. equities end the week higher, Oct. 20-24

Better-than-expected corporate earnings and easing concerns about the Ebola epidemic despite news of the first case of the disease diagnosed in New York City drove U.S. equities higher during the trading week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 425 points, or 2.6% to close at 16,805.41, while the S&P 500 Index climbed 77.82 points, or 4.1%, to 1,964.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 225.28 points, or 5.3%, to finish at 4,483.72, and the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index fell 1.15 points, or 1.5%, to 75.93.

Shares of Agrium surged 11.96%, or US$9.86 per share, to US$92.65, after ValueAct Capital Management disclosed in a U.S.  Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it has taken a 5.7% stake in the company. The San Francisco-based activist investor did not specify which direction it wants Agrium to take, unlike Jana Partners, another activist group, which tried to separate the company’s retail and fertilizer production units last year. Agrium eventually triumphed at its annual general meeting in April 2013, when its shareholders did not elect any of Jana’s five board nominees.

Two weeks after rejecting a merger approach from Glencore, Rio Tinto announced that it would extend the tenure of its CEO Sam Walsh, whose contract was due to expire in December 2015. The company is also extending the tenure of its chief financial officer Christopher Lynch, whose contract was due in February 2017. Both executives will move to a rolling contract with no end date. The move was interpreted by some as an attempt to reassure the market that management has steady hands at the tiller in the event of any takeover attempts. Rio ended the week at US$49.04 per share, down US89¢, or 1.78%.

West Africa-focused gold producer Randgold Resources saw its shares fall US$2.24, or 3.4% to US$64.69, as the Mali government confirmed the country’s first Ebola case. In an Oct. 24 press release, CEO Mark Bristow said the company was communicating with Mali’s national and regional health directors where the case was identified, as well as with relevant non-governmental organizations and members of the Ebola Private Sector Mobilisation Group. “We are assured by the administrators that the situation is under control,” Bristow said.

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