Bullion & Business Weekend Report – Sept. 5

Precious metals prices glowed for a second consecutive week, with silver blazing a trail of hot fire and gold surging toward $1,000 an ounce. New York crude futures rose slightly Friday but had their worst weekly loss in nearly two months. In other markets, both U.S. and European stocks ended the week lower.

In weekly London bullion figures, gold surged 3.5 percent, silver soared 9.7 percent and platinum rose 0.5 percent. Precious metals figures on Friday follow:

London silver closed to $15.95 an ounce, jumping $1.41 from last Friday’s close and reaching the highest point of the year. New York silver futures for December delivery ended at $16.285.

London Gold was fixed at $989.00 an ounce, a $33.50 gain on the week and the highest level since Feb. 20. New York gold for December delivery finished at $996.70

London platinum climbed to $1,250.00 an ounce, a $6.00 increase for the week. New York platinum for October delivery closed at $1,259.10.

"Today’s recovery in prices is bullish and with this morning’s U.S. government report indicating the highest unemployment in 26 years, the buck appears poised for a fall," Ralph Preston, a Heritage West Futures Inc. analyst in San Diego, was quoted on Bloomberg. "Only a close below $967 an ounce hints at a market reversal."

"Players were assessing the odds of a successful assault on the four-digit target [gold above $1,000 an ounce], how far beyond that number the funds can reasonably push the envelope, and how long-lived the fourth attempt to overcome this price level Holy Grail might turn out to be," wrote Jon Nadler, Sr. analyst at Kitco Metals Inc.

Much of what takes place next week, depends -at this stage- on whether the gold-stocks correlation is still as valid as it showed itself to be in recent months, and on whether dollar traders take this Friday’s data set as a signal to take the currency to 78 or lower on the index."

Gold, considered a hedge during times of high inflation and economic uncertainty, tends to follow oil and move opposite to the U.S. dollar. A rising greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities, like bullion, more expensive for holders of other world currencies.

To follow are silver, gold and platinum performance charts, precious metal articles, oil news and week-ending world stock summaries.

London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold and Platinum
(Aug 28 – Sept 4)

The London Fix is one of the most used bullion quotes around the world. The London AM fix for gold and platinum begins at 10:30am GMT (5:30am in New York), and the PM fix begins at 3pm GMT (10am in New York). The London Fix for silver begins each business day at 12pm GMT (7am in New York).

London Fix figures: percent and dollar changes*

Weekly world business news; oil, gasoline, and stocks prices

Crude oil climbed Friday for the first time in five sessions "in a cautious response to economic data which showed that while unemployment soared to a 26-year high in August, there were fewer jobs lost than expected in the month," Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons from Reuters wrote.

"Medium-term our forecast is for a weaker dollar that might support oil prices," Sintje Diek, an analyst with HSH Nordbank in Hamburg, was quoted on Bloomberg. "But the bigger point is that the fundamental situation doesn’t support prices above $70, and risk aversion may lead to a correction."

On Friday, New York crude-oil for October delivery rose 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, to close at $68.02. The price is lower by $4.72, or 6.5 percent, from last Friday’s close of $72.74.

Prices at the pump declined for another week. The national average for unleaded gasoline on Saturday fell a half penny from Friday to $2.586 a gallon, according to a AAA fuel report. The price is 2.3 cents lower than last week, 2.4 cents less than a month back, and down $1.09 from a year ago.

In U.S. stocks for the week, the Dow lost 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 fell 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq declined 0.5 percent.

U.S. stocks rallied Friday "in a thinly traded session ahead of the Labor Day weekend, as investors focused on the positives in a mixed report on the labor market," wrote Alexandra Twin at CNNMoney.

"This market has become saturated with good news and (the nonfarm payrolls report) suggested more healing," Jeff Kleintop, chief market strategist for LPL Financial was quoted on MarketWatch. "But the market is showing some real signs of fatigue, when this type of data a month ago would have led to a huge rally."

Friday figures for the three major US indexes follow:

• The Dow rose 96.66 points to close at 9,441.27.

• The S&P increased 13.16 points, closing to 1,016.40.

• The NASDAQ climbed 35.58 points to finish at 2,018.78.

And in other world markets:

• The German DAX jumped 83.01 points to close at 5,384.43.

• The Paris CAC 40 advanced 45.25 points to close at 3,598.76.

• And the London FTSE 100 gained 54.95 points to close at 4,851.70.

U.S. stocks finished a down week on an up note as investors shrugged off news that the jobless rate hit a 26-year high. Conway Gittens of Reuters reports on these, world stocks and other news business news in the following. SOUNDBITE: John Lonski of Moody’s.

Bullion articles of interest

In related silver and gold news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

• Gold falls first day in four after rallying near $1,000 an ounce – MarketWatch
  Gold futures edged lower Friday for the first day in four, after rallying near $1,000 an ounce in the previous session, as a jobs report that fell largely in line with expectations …

• Gold Trades Near Six-Month High as Dollar Falls; Silver Slips – Bloomberg
  Gold was little changed, trading near a six-month high in New York as the dollar weakened, boosting the appeal of the metal as an alternative asset. Silver declined from a 13-month high …

• Labor Day Before Labour Day – Jon Nadler, Kitco
  Price ranges narrowed and action turned somewhat calmer in overseas precious metals markets overnight. The approach of the long weekend in the US and the imminent release of labour statistics …

• US Coin Sales: Lincoln Proof Sets Top 66K, Clad Near 1M – CoinNews
  US Mint sales data this week provides a first glimpse into Lincoln Proof Set numbers. They also show higher demand for UHR coins even before the 25-coin limit increase. And they indicate …

• First Spouse Coin Weekly Sales, Gold Coin Prices Rise – First Spouse Coins
  The newest Julia Tyler First Spouse Coins were again the biggest US Mint sellers. The proof and uncirculated options climbed by 217 and 133, respectively. Van Buren’s Liberty proof performed …

• Weekly Sales Figures for US Mint Silver Coins – Silver Coins Today
  With the exception of Silver Eagles, US Mint silver coin sale figures were less than exciting for the last seven days ending Sunday, Aug. 30. The 2009 Silver Proof Set was the biggest gainer in collector coins …

• Silver Eagles Sales Best August Ever, Gold Eagles Fourth – CoinNews
  The United States Mint sold 2.13 million Silver Eagles and 82,000 Gold Eagles during the month of August. Pretty impressive. Still, if these numbers seem lower than those from July or June, that’s because they are. From that fact alone, it would be easy to conclude that gold and silver eagle coin demand is on the retreat. But that wouldn’t exactly be accurate …

• Record 2.13M Silver Eagle Sold in August – Silver Coins Today
  American Silver Eagle Coins hit another new record last month. The US Mint sold 2.13 million of the bullion coins, which is the most ever for an August month. That may surprise those who watch the series, given the total is actually down substantially — 24.2 percent — from July’s record 2.81 million. Further, while July ranked as the second best 2009 month for the eagles, August sales are actually …

Bullion and finance related collector tools

• US Mint Coin Prices
• Live Gold Spots
• Silver Coins Values
• World Currency Converter
• Inflation Calculator