Does Early-Year M&A Activity Signal Market Bottom?
A recent spate of friendly M&A deals announced since the start of the year raises the question: Do these deals signify the beginning of the end of a bear market that has lingered for over 3 years? These M&A deals also coincide (but are not necessarily related to) a number of large bought deal financings by larger-cap companies, perhaps signifying more available capital and appetite for risk in the sector. After a rise in the gold price in January (reaching $1,300 per ounce in late January), it has since corrected, briefly falling below $1,220 and finishing at $1,229 per ounce at the time of publication. Copper and WTI crude prices also appear to have levelled off after both experienced severe corrections in late 2014/early 2015 followed by high volatility; Both finished on Friday at $2.60 per pound (up 1.5%) and $52.48 (up 2%) per barrel, while Brent crude rose above the $60 per barrel mark this week for the first time in 2015. Silver rose (up 3%) on Friday after a relatively flat week to finish at $17.29 per ounce Friday, while platinum fell (down 1.3%) to $1,208 per ounce and palladium rose slightly (up 0.86%) to $791 per ounce. Nickel (down 4%), lead (down 0.2%) and zinc (down 0.6%) all fell during the week, finishing at $6.62, $0.83 and $0.97 per pound respectively. Finally, the UxC Broker Average Price (BAP) of uranium rose slightly during the week, finishing at $38.19 per pound on Friday.
Here’s an overview of what’s in the Dig this week:
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