The Charts Of The Week: Talon, Vizsla, Rupert, NexGen, & A Bear Steepening Boom
The TSX-Venture made another multi-year weekly closing high amid mounting evidence of a bear-steepening boom
Metals and mining stocks experienced a strong week overall, with gold rising more than 5%, silver up nearly 4%, and copper rallying nearly 6%. In addition, the TSX-Venture Composite made a new 30+ month weekly closing high - the TSX-V is now up more than 25% from its early April washout low:
TSX-Venture Composite (Weekly)
Even long-forgotten and widely hated metals like platinum are beginning to work well. Platinum rose 10.15% for the week, to close right at a major resistance level, ~$1100/oz.
With one week left in the month of May, the monthly chart of platinum helps to put the situation into perspective:
Platinum (Monthly)
Considering the enormous amount of potential energy that has been built-up within the multi-year trading range, a monthly close above $1100 in platinum would be very encouraging.
Very encouraging indeed.
The recent moves in metals and the U.S. Treasury Yield Curve (rising long-end yields while front-end remains relatively flat) have me pondering the possibility that we are at the beginning of a ‘bear-steepening boom’:
While many market pundits appear to be attributing the recent rise in Treasury yields to US fiscal concerns, I find it more likely that the market is beginning to price in Trump 2.0’s pro-growth policy initiatives while betting on favorable trade/tariff outcomes. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has not made it a secret that the administration intends to grow its way out of the current debt trap:
“We can both grow the economy and control the debt. What is important is that the economy grows faster than the debt. If we change the growth trajectory of the country, of the economy, then we will stabilize our finances and grow our way out of this.”
Moving on to individual stocks, MindMed (Nasdaq:MNMD) had a volatile week before ultimately closing up 10.61% for the week:
MNMD (Daily)
After trading up to a high of $8.21 on Tuesday morning, MNMD underwent another sharp correction, briefly falling back below $7.00. The most important takeaway from the week is that the $7.00 level began acting like a new support level - MNMD finished the week nicely above that breakout level.
The chart pattern trade setup in MNMD was highlighted here on May 13th.
Turning to gold miners, Rupert Resources (TSX:RUP) finished the week up 9% at a fresh 52-week high:
RUP.TO (Weekly)
Another breakout gold/silver miner chart was highlighted in last week’s edition of “Charts of the Week”:
VZLA (Weekly)
VZLA rose 14.34% on the week to post a new weekly all-time high close on the NYSE. With SilverCrest and MAG Silver both getting snapped up by larger companies in the last year, the market appears to be honing in on VZLA as the next potential silver target.
Another junior miner that was recently highlighted on this Substack, Talon Metals (TSX:TLO, OTC:TLOMF), saw its shares come under heavy buying pressure rising 33.33% on the week:
TLO.TO (Daily)
After experiencing a 100% increase in share price over the last few weeks, there is no doubt that Talon has reached an ‘extreme overbought’ condition on shorter timeframes. However, if we zoom out to a weekly chart we can better appreciate the situation:
TLO.TO (Weekly)
After a 3+ year downtrend, Talon shares have only just begun to come alive again; volume is accelerating as the nascent uptrend gains traction.
We saw an enormous sector-wide rally across the uranium sector on Friday. Double-digit percentage gains across the sector followed a series of executive orders by President Donald Trump aimed at revitalizing the U.S. nuclear industry. These orders are designed to streamline reactor approval processes, bolster domestic uranium production, and facilitate the construction of nuclear reactors on federal land, particularly to meet the growing energy demands of AI data centers and defense facilities.
URA (Daily)
The sharp rally across the uranium sector reflects investor optimism about the future of nuclear energy in the U.S., driven by policy support and increasing electricity demand from emerging technologies (AI, blockchain, crypto mining, XR etc.).
High short-interest names such as NexGen Energy (NYSE:NXE, TSX:NXE) and Uranium Energy Corp (NYSE:UEC) saw some of the biggest moves on the trading session:
NXE (Daily)
NXE has ~15% short interest.
NexGen’s Rook I project is expected to produce up to 30 million pounds of high-grade uranium annually, positioning it as one of the largest and lowest-cost uranium mines globally. First production at Rook I is expected by 2029.
UEC (Daily)
UEC has 12.6% short interest.
Finally, US Steel (NYSE:X) shares soared 21% on Friday after President Trump’s endorsement of a "planned partnership" between U.S. Steel and Japan's Nippon Steel.
X (Daily)
In his announcement, President Trump emphasized that U.S. Steel would retain its headquarters in Pittsburgh and highlighted the partnership's potential to create at least 70,000 jobs and inject $14 billion into the U.S. economy over the next 14 months.
All in all, it was a powerful week for precious metals and commodities. In particular, it is worth noting that there is growing evidence that funds are beginning to flow down the food chain into smaller market cap, earlier stage companies. Let’s see if this trend continues into June.
Disclosure: Author owns shares of Talon Metals and Vizsla Silver at the time of publishing and may choose to buy or sell at any time without notice.
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