American indexes on the front foot during May 29-June 2 trading week 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 580.28 points or 1.8% to 33,673.62 and the S&P 500 gained 87.7 points or 1% over the week to 4,293.13. 

Among the top gainers this week was Teck Resources (TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B; NYSE: TECK), which closed US$5.09 higher Friday at US$43.40 per share. The Northern Miner reported on Jun. 2 that Canada’s largest diversified miner is reportedly struggling to secure the support of top shareholder China Investment Corporation (CIC) for a plan to exit coal. The Vancouver-based miner denied a Bloomberg report Friday claiming that CIC, China’s largest sovereign wealth fund, favoured Glencore’s (LSE: GLEN) bid to buy the miner. CIC has not disclosed how it voted, but it is said to support any plan that would allow investors to end their coal exposure cleanly for an attractive cash return, people close to the matter told Bloomberg News on Thursday. Teck, which continues to fend off a relentless takeover push from Glencore, had to withdraw its original proposal to split the company into two units — base metals and coal — just hours ahead of a shareholder meeting in April. 

The top percentage gainer was Nexgen Energy (NYSE: NXE) which added 16.8% to close Friday at US$4.44 per share, mainly on the back of spot uranium prices continuing an upwards trajectory. According to UxC and TradeTech, the spot uranium price has increased 14.4% to US$54.55 per lb. Through June 2, compared with US$47.68 on Dec. 31, 2022. Nexgen reported on May 1 that financial institutions had expressed interest in lending it more than US$1 billion to build its Rook I uranium project in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca basin. The non-binding expressions of interest from unnamed commercial lenders and export credit agencies are available to provide debt for Rook I, subject to financing terms and conditions, due diligence and documentation. The company expects to finalize financing in the fourth quarter. 

US-based copper major Freeport McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) was one of the week’s most active issuers, seeing 77.4 million shares change ownership to close Friday up US$2.42 at US$37.19 apiece. The value of Freeport shares has been on the up, with copper adding 1.4% in the week to close at US$3.73 per lb. Most recently, Freeport made headlines when it reported its first-quarter operational and earnings results that showed profit halved because of tight labour market conditions across the base metals industry. Copper mining giants are scrambling to attract and retain workers, especially in the U.S., during surging demand for the red metal, which anchors the green energy transition. Apart from protests in Peru, production was also hit in February after the company was forced to stop operations for over two weeks at its massive Grasberg mine in Indonesia due to floods. Copper production in the quarter fell to 965 million lb. from 1.01 billion lb. a year earlier.