Markets wait for a rate cut, and First Majestic Silver announces $970 million acquisition

Financial markets ended the week on strong footing as stocks, gold, and Bitcoin all trended higher, with the S&P besting its previous all-time high by a hair, while gold bulls stampeded their way above $2,700/oz for the first time in history.On Saturday mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable.  Gold has room to run, according to Kitco's weekly gold survey. 94% of Main Street expects gold to go higher. 72% of Wall Street expected the same. The remainder in both expected gold to go sideways or lower. Silver added about $3 for the week to close above $33.7. Many silver miners were up sharply for the week with Pan American Silver, First Majestic Silver and SilverCrest all up by double digits. On Wednesday Lithium Americas announced that GM will contribute $625 million to a joint venture to develop the Thacker Pass project in Nevada.

Copper prices were down 1.7% for the week, but a weekend press conference by China's finance ministry could provide the metal with a lift. On Friday mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable.  China’s finance ministry holds a Saturday press conference to announce policies to support the country's economy.  PRC Macro says the central government could possibly announce a bond quota increase of RMB1-2trn. In mining news, miners such as Orezone, West African Resources and Endeavour Mining all saw stock declines when Burkina Faso junta leader Ibrahim Traore said he is going to withdraw mining permits.On Saturday Traroe made a radio address asking why multinationals were operating in the country, saying the country knew how to mine gold.

A good jobs report on Friday sustained market momentum.On Saturday, mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 254,000 jobs were created last month, marking the strongest employment report in six months. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.1%.Spot gold finished the week at $2,665, roughly unchanged for the week, while silver added $1.20 to hit $32.20. On Friday Coeur Mining announced that it would acquire SilverCrest in an all-share transaction valued at $1.7 billion. 

This week China's government pumped more liquidity into financial markets and cutting interest rates to try to pull its economy out of a deflationary spiral and back toward its growth target. On Saturday mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable. The Chinese stimulus was good for the metals with copper, gold and silver reporting gains. In mining news Fortescue announces plans to buy a fleet of 100 electrical trucks.

Gold prices are ending the week at another record high. On Saturday mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable. The Federal Reserve's decision to embark on its first interest rate cut since 2020 has sent ripples through the financial markets. In a bold move, the central bank slashed rates by 50 basis points, bringing the Fed funds rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%. This aggressive cut marks the beginning of what the Fed calls "interest rate normalization," with the ultimate goal of achieving a benchmark rate between 3% and 3.5% by 2025.In mining news, Reuters reported that Australia’s Titan Minerals on Wednesday announced plans to sell up to 80% stake in its Linderos copper project in Ecuador to a unit of billionaire Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting for up to $120 million.Gina Rinehart has been ranked as one of Australia's richest individuals. She is executive chair of Hancock Prospecting. Her wealth reached around A$29 billion in 2012_________________________________________________________________Kitco Roundtable is brought to you by Revival Gold. Revival Gold is one of the largest, pure gold, mine developers in the United States. The Company is advancing engineering and economic studies on the Mercur Gold Project in Utah and mine permitting preparations and ongoing exploration at the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project located in Idaho.Revival Gold is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol “RVG” and trades on the OTCQX Market under the ticker symbol “RVLGF”. The Company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with its exploration and development office located in Salmon, Idaho.

In an historic week for the precious metals market, gold futures have shattered records, breaching the $2600 per troy ounce threshold for the first time. On Saturday mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable. Market are pivoting their attention to next week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. This gathering is poised to be one of the year's most consequential, with widespread anticipation of the first interest rate cut since 2020. The consensus among analysts, economists, and market observers is that a rate reduction is all but certain. markets are currently pricing in a 73% chance of a 25 bps cut and a 27% chance of a 50 bps cut, according to CME FedWatch.Early this week AngloGold Ashanti announced it is acquiring Egypt-focused Centamin for $2.5 billion in cash and stock. Anglogold dropped on the news, but recovered by the end of the week. __________________________________________________________________Digging Deep is brought to you by Revival Gold. Revival Gold is one of the largest, pure gold, mine developers in the United States. The Company is advancing engineering and economic studies on the Mercur Gold Project in Utah and mine permitting preparations and ongoing exploration at the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project located in Idaho.Revival Gold is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol “RVG” and trades on the OTCQX Market under the ticker symbol “RVLGF”. The Company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with its exploration and development office located in Salmon, Idaho.

Soft labor report supports case for rate cut, but how big will be the cut? And First Majestic Silver announces plans to acquire Gatos Silver for $970 million in an all-share deal. On Friday mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable. Gold mostly traded sideways this week ending at the 2497 level. Silver ended the week at 27.80. On Friday, U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 142,000 last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This figure fell short of the consensus estimate of 164,000.First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) announced this week that it entered into a definitive merger agreement with Gatos Silver whereby First Majestic will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Gatos. The all share deal is valued at $970 million. First Majestic said the combined companies will consolidate three world-class, producing silver mining districts in Mexico. The combined annual production of the new entity will be 30-32 million ounces of silver-equivalent, including 15-16 million ounces of silver at all-in sustaining costs of $18.00-$20.00 per silver-equivalent ounce. Markets are not loving the deal. First Majestic closed down 16% for the week. __________________________________________________________________Kitco Roundtable is brought to you by Revival Gold. Revival Gold is one of the largest, pure gold, mine developers in the United States. The Company is advancing engineering and economic studies on the Mercur Gold Project in Utah and mine permitting preparations and ongoing exploration at the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project located in Idaho.Revival Gold is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol “RVG” and trades on the OTCQX Market under the ticker symbol “RVLGF”. The Company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with its exploration and development office located in Salmon, Idaho.

Three pieces of economic news came out this week: housing, GDP and jobless claims. On Thursday, mining audiences manager Michael McCrae hosted Kitco Roundtable. Starting the strong news, The U.S. economy continues to defy the odds, as the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) experienced solid growth in the second quarter. However, despite this positive economic data, gold prices remain largely unaffected, with the market continuing to consolidate near record levels.On Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the preliminary reading of second-quarter GDP showed the economy grew by 3.0% between April and June, up from the initial estimate of 2.8%. This represents an increase from the 1.4% growth reported in the first quarter.Housing data was less strong. The U.S. housing sector can’t find any consistent momentum as few Americans are looking to enter the housing market even as the Federal Reserve prepares to lower interest rates.The U.S. pending home sales index dropped 5.5% in July, the NAR announced Thursday, more than unwinding June’s 4.8% increase. With a reading of 70.2, the index has dropped to its lowest level since the NAR first produced it back in 2001.And lastly, Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week was lower than forecasted.Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 for the week ending August 24, the Labor Department announced on Thursday. The number was lower than expectations. Ganfeng Lithium reported a H1 2024 loss of ~$107M and said it would be delaying spending on projects. ________________________________________________________________Kitco Roundtable is brought to you by Revival Gold. Revival Gold is one of the largest, pure gold, mine developers in the United States. The Company is advancing engineering and economic studies on the Mercur Gold Project in Utah and mine permitting preparations and ongoing exploration at the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project located in Idaho.Revival Gold is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol “RVG” and trades on the OTCQX Market under the ticker symbol “RVLGF”. The Company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with its exploration and development office located in Salmon, Idaho. 

Gold finished the week well above $2,500 level. On Friday mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable sponsored by Revival Gold. The precious metals were up as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signals that the central bank is ready to start easing interest rates.In his much-anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole Central Bank Symposium, Powell said that the upside risk to inflation has diminished and risks to the labor market have grown.Lucara Diamond recovered 'one of the largest rough diamonds ever unearthed'. News of the find made headlines in major news publications such as New York Times and Bloomberg. Lucara traded up 50% for the week. ________________________________________________________________Kitco Roundtable is brought to you by Revival Gold. Revival Gold is one of the largest, pure gold, mine developers in the United States. The Company is advancing engineering and economic studies on the Mercur Gold Project in Utah and mine permitting preparations and ongoing exploration at the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project located in Idaho.Revival Gold is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol “RVG” and trades on the OTCQX Market under the ticker symbol “RVLGF”. The Company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with its exploration and development office located in Salmon, Idaho.

Gold enjoyed one of its best five-day stretches of the year this week, and ended with a bang, rocketing to fresh all-time highs in both the spot and futures markets. On Friday mining audiences manager recorded Kitco Roundtable sponsored by Revival GoldGold broke definitively through $2,500 to end the week at $2,508. Silver was up, too, ending the week at $29 ounce. The week started off with M&A. Osisko Mining (TSX:OSK) will be acquired by Gold Fields for $1.57 billion (C$2.16 billion) in an all-cash transaction. Early this week Barrick Gold filed its Q2. Analysts had been following the second quarter results of all the gold miners to see how strongly the companies might perform off record high prices for the metal. Net earnings at Barrick were up 25% and the attributable EBITDA margin was up 17% quarter on quarter to 48%. Barrick traded up on the news.