Top Stories This Week: Gold Pulls Back, Barrick’s Bristow Calls for More M&A

After riding high over the summer, gold appears to be taking a breather. The yellow metal dipped below US$1,900 per ounce early in the week and was near US$1,870 at the time of this writing.

Speaking to INN, David Erfle of Junior Miner Junky weighed in on gold’s decline, saying that investors shouldn’t be too worried about its downward price activity.

He thinks that US$1,750 to US$1,800 is a “pretty strong floor” for gold, and in his opinion a consolidation is needed after its big leap forward. Among other pieces of advice, he encouraged investors to maintain their core positions during tumultuous times and not get shaken out of the market.

“You don’t want to see gold continuing to go higher without a healthy consolidation period. The consolidation period so far has only been about eight weeks, and both the GDX and GDXJ haven’t even corrected 20 percent yet” — David Erfle, Junior Miner Junky

Sticking with the yellow metal, this week brought the Denver Gold Forum, the latest major industry event to go online. The conference brings insight from the biggest players in the gold space, and one highlight was comments from Barrick (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD) leader Mark Bristow.

While he had good things to say about how the gold industry has performed over the last 18 months, Bristow made it clear that he wants to see more M&A activity. He was tight-lipped on any moves from Barrick, but said that in general investors need to support further consolidation.

“The industry has gone a long way from where it was in just 18 months. The problem now is that — my issue is — we haven’t finished that job. This industry has still got a mishmash of assets and too many managers’ hands, and it needs further consolidation” — Mark Bristow, Barrick

Those involved in the space will likely remember that Barrick and Randgold Resources joined forces at the Denver Gold Forum two years ago, arguably kicking off a wave of mergers and acquisitions in gold.

If you’re wondering about Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Battery Day, don’t worry — we didn’t forget this much-anticipated event. INN’s Priscila Barrera tuned in to Battery Day on Tuesday, and on Wednesday watched the post-Battery Day rundown put on by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

We’re preparing content for next week with expert commentary on Elon Musk’s many promises, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we asked our Twitter followers to tell us if Battery Day met their expectations. Interestingly, by the time the poll closed most who answered said that it did not.

Of course, some respondents were more optimistic, saying that they were happy with what they learned at Battery Day and eager to find out more details on the key announcements.

We’ll be asking another question on Twitter next week, so make sure to follow us @INN_Resource or follow me @Charlotte_McL to share your thoughts.

In cannabis this week, INN’s Bryan Mc Govern continued coverage of the upcoming US presidential election, this time asking experts what a Trump victory could mean for the marijuana industry.

“Even if Trump were to win somehow, it’s not a negative for marijuana and at least has all the upside it already has right now” — Dan Ahrens, AdvisorShares

Overall, market watchers seem to agree that federal legalization of the drug would be unlikely during a second Trump term — but that doesn’t mean the industry is in trouble. Rather, the consensus is that states will likely continue to move forward with their own cannabis programs, allowing sales to grow.

Next week we’ll share Bryan’s content on what could happen to the industry in the event of a Biden win, so keep an eye out for that.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.