Based in Toronto, Barrick Gold is one of the world's largest gold miners. In 2023, the firm produced nearly 4.1 million attributable ounces of gold and about 420 million pounds of copper. At year-end 2023, Barrick had about two decades of gold reserves along with significant copper reserves. After buying Randgold in 2019 and combining its Nevada mines in a joint venture with competitor Newmont later that year, it operates mines in 19 countries in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company also has growing copper exposure. Its potential Reko Diq project in Pakistan, if developed, could double copper production by the end of the decade.

Tuesday was reminiscent of the mega-cap market from parts of 2023 and 2024, when just a handful of monster stocks dragged the major indices higher, while most other stocks waded in choppy water. While the biggest sector winner was Real Estate (XLRE), with a 1.8% gain, Information Technology (IT) was second, rising 1.5%, and Consumer Discretionary was third, adding 1.2%. Within IT, software rose 1.9% on the back of Oracle's 11% surge following better-than-expected quarterly results. Semiconductors also got a little mojo back, rising a bit more than 3% as Broadcom popped 5.3% and Advanced Micro added 3.4%. Autos led in discretionary as Tesla ripped 4.6% higher while the next 10 autos by market cap all fell. On the flipside, Financial gave up 1%, led by a 5.2% drubbing in the largest bank, JP Morgan. Energy was the weakest sector, as crude oil fell another 3.5% to $66.30/barrel and to the lowest close for WTI since late 2021. Exxon led Energy to the downside, falling 3.6%. While the S&P 500 gained 0.5%, the Nasdaq rose 0.8%, the Nasdaq 100 was up 0.9%, the small- and mid-caps did little, and NYSE breadth was flat. Bonds continue to rally as the 10-year yield fell to 3.65%, the lowest level since June 2023; the five-year dropped to 3.43%, its lowest point since May 2023; while the two-year is down to 3.59%, the lowest since March 2023. While it's happening slowly, the yield is normalizing -- in other words, it is "un-inverting" for the first time in over two years. The two-, five-, and 10-year yield charts all look like they are tracing out multi-year topping formations, but we don't want rates to fall too far. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

Based in Toronto, Barrick Gold is one of the world's largest gold miners. In 2023, the firm produced nearly 4.1 million attributable ounces of gold and about 420 million pounds of copper. At year-end 2023, Barrick had about two decades of gold reserves along with significant copper reserves. After buying Randgold in 2019 and combining its Nevada mines in a joint venture with competitor Newmont later that year, it operates mines in 19 countries in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company also has growing copper exposure. Its potential Reko Diq project in Pakistan, if developed, could double copper production by the end of the decade.

Based in Toronto, Barrick Gold is one of the world's largest gold miners. In 2023, the firm produced nearly 4.1 million attributable ounces of gold and about 420 million pounds of copper. At year-end 2023, Barrick had about two decades of gold reserves along with significant copper reserves. After buying Randgold in 2019 and combining its Nevada mines in a joint venture with competitor Newmont later that year, it operates mines in 19 countries in the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The company also has growing copper exposure. Its potential Reko Diq project in Pakistan, if developed, could double copper production by the end of the decade.