welcome back to our weekly update I'm Charlotte McLoud with investing news.com and I'm here to give you a quick look at our top stories for the [Music] week the gold price took a tumble this week falling from a high point of about 2057 per ounce at the beginning of the period to just under 2025 at the time of this recording on January 18th it nearly dropped below the 2,000 mark on January 17th gold's price decline came on the back of positive retail sales numbers out of the US data from the Department


of Commerce shows that retail sales Rose 0.6% month- on-month in December which is more than analysts anticipated support reportedly came from purchases of Motor Vehicles and online buying while the US Federal Reserve is widely believed to have topped out on interest rate hikes questions remain about how much it will lower rates in 2024 and when it will start bringing them down experts believe this week's retail sales release gives the Central Bank more flexibility an idea that's been echoed


by fed Governor Christoper Waller he said this week that the worst outcome would be for inflation to reverse after a cut the fed's second meeting of the year is in March and CME group's fed watch tool still shows a 54.6% probability of a 25 basis point cut at that time however the likelihood was around 9% higher a week ago we last spoke about first Quantum minerals toward the end of 2023 when the firm was forced to shut down its Cobra Panama copper mine now the company is back on the headlines with the release


of its guidance for 2024 to 2026 on January 15 it outlined a slew of measures aimed at Shoring up its financial position including lowering spending pausing its dividend and putting smaller mines up for sale aside from that first Quantum said it's evaluating the possibility of Investments by strategic investors in its larger mining assets rumors are swirling that Barett gold may be interested in acquiring first Quantum during this time of trouble according to Bloomberg baric boss Mark Bristo has


spoken to some of the company's major investors to gauge their thoughts on such a deal whether that pounds out remains to be seen But Bristo does have a history of working successfully in tough jurisdictions you may have noticed that our YouTube channel has been a little quiet for the last couple of weeks and that's because we're getting ready for the Vancouver resource investment conference which runs from January 21st to 22nd I'll be recording interviews at the show with popular industry experts like


Rick rule eie Tucker Lynette sang and many more if you have any topics or questions you'd like me to covered please leave a comment below I'd love to hear your thoughts I'm also very excited to be hosting four Fireside Chats at v i I'll be speaking on stage with Ross Bey Jeff Clark Brent Johnson and Christopher Aaron I'm really looking forward to all those discussions and if you'll be attending vac I'd love to see you there I'll leave the details for the Fireside


Chats in the video description and I'd also like to invite you to visit investing news.com in Booth M9 on the show floor that's all for this week if you like this video make sure you subscribe to our Channel we'd also love to hear your thoughts so leave us a comment below we'll see you next time thank you for watching if you like this video make sure you subscribe to our Channel we'd also love to hear your thoughts so leave us a comment below we'll see you next time