Bullion Prices and Business Weekly Update – September 18, 2010

Precious metals rallied this week as gold closed at a fresh record for a third time and silver reached a 30-year high.

The yellow metal rose 2.5 percent this week, its sixth weekly increase in the past seven weeks. Silver nearly doubled gold’s percent gain, jumping 4.9 percent. Platinum led the metals, advancing 5.1 percent. Palladium immediately followed at 5.0 percent.

In other markets, crude oil fell for a fourth straight day while U.S. stocks climbed narrowly on Friday but wider for the week, with the major indexes registering weekly gains of between 1.2 and 3.3 percent. European stocks were mixed, with little changes from last Friday.

In U.S. bullion prices, gold for December delivery closed Friday at $1,277.50 an ounce, advancing $3.70, or 0.2 percent, on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In U.S. dollar terms, gold climbed $31 for the week after dipping $4.60 or 0.4 percent last week.

"Gold is accelerating. We’re getting to a point where the public is getting spooked by the instability in financial markets," Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago, said and was quoted on Bloomberg. "Gold is going to be the asset of choice when investors are seeking safe havens." However, Klopfenstein added that "the higher gold goes, the more it’s going to hurt when the rubber band snaps back."

In other precious metals, silver for September delivery closed to $20.816 an ounce — the highest closing price since October 16, 1980, rising 4.5 cents on Friday. It surged 97.1 cents for the week after dropping 10.4 cents, or 0.5 percent, last week.

"The last few months, silver has been benefiting as a monetary metal like gold, when things are looking bad, and as an industrial metal when things are looking good," precious metals strategist Matthew Turner of Mitsubishi Corp said and was quoted on Reuters.

Platinum for October delivery ended at $1,621.90 an ounce, rising $10.00 on Friday. It soared $79.40 for the week after falling $18.60, or 1.2 percent, last week.

Palladium for September delivery fell $3.65 to close Friday at $545.70 an ounce. It rallied $25.85 for the week after dropping $11.60, or 2.2 percent last week.

In London bullion weekly prices, the gold Fix was $1,274.00 an ounce, gaining $27.50, or 2.2 percent, for the week.

"Gold’s sentiment-al journey continued virtually uninterrupted overnight as the ‘another day; must mean another record’ mentality remained manifest among spec funds," noted Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc. "In effect it has become rather difficult to discern whether such daily gains (absent any substantive news of the really worrisome kind) are fueling sentiment or whether sentiment is fueling the subsequent gains."

In other weekly London precious metal prices, silver was $20.850 an ounce for a gain of 95 cents, or 4.8 percent. Platinum was $1,618.00 an ounce, surging $73.00, or 4.7 percent. Palladium was $547.00 an ounce, soaring $29.00, or 5.6 percent, for the week.

To follow are silver, gold, platinum and palladium performance charts, oil news, week-ending stocks, and precious metal article summaries.

London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Palladium

(September 10-17)

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).

August London Fix Precious Metals Prices

Business News: Oil, Gasoline, and Stocks Prices

Crude oil futures prices "ended at their lowest level in more than two weeks Friday as a disappointing read on consumer sentiment nipped earlier gains and the reopening of a once-leaky (Enbridge) pipeline cemented the day’s losses," wrote Claudia Assis of MarketWatch.

"The market really started to tank once the consumer confidence numbers came out," Kyle Cooper, a managing director at energy consultant IAF Advisors in Houston, said and was quoted on Bloomberg. "The economy is the driver of this market right now."

U.S. crude oil for October delivery lost 91 cents, or 1.22 percent, to $73.66 a barrel. For the week, oil prices plunged $2.79, or 3.65 percent, after jumping $2.20, or 2.96 percent last week.

Prices at the pump fell a half penny between Friday and Saturday. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.735 a gallon, according to the daily AAA fuel report. The price is 4.6 cents higher than last week, a half penny more than the price of a month back, and 18.5 cents higher than a year ago.

U.S. stocks rose slightly, "with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index completing the longest weekly rally since April, as better-than-estimated earnings at technology companies overshadowed an unexpected drop in consumer confidence," noted Rita Nazareth of Bloomberg.

Friday closing figures for the three major U.S. indexes follow:

• The Dow edged up 13.02 points, or 0.12 percent, to 10,607.85.

• The S&P climbed 0.93 points, or 0.08 percent, to close at 1,125.59.

• The NASDAQ rose 12.36 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,315.61.

For the week, the Dow added 1.39 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 1.45 percent, and the Nasdaq surged 3.26 percent.

And in other world markets on Friday:

• The German DAX lost 39.89 points to 6,209.76.

• The Paris CAC 40 declined 14.28 points to end at 3,722.02.

• The London FTSE 100 fell 31.69 points to 5,508.45.

For the week, the DAX slipped 0.08 percent, the CAC 40 slid 0.10 percent and the FTSE 100 lost 0.12 percent.

U.S. Week Ahead Business Video by Reuters

The policy group for the Federal Reserve discusses monetary policy, Petrobras prices its share offering, data is released on U.S. housing markets and Reuters kicks off its 2010 Washington Summit. These topics and more are covered in the following Reuters "The week ahead" business video:

Bullion and Economic Articles

In related bullion, business and United States Mint news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

• 2010 American Bullion Buffalo Gold Tops 200K
  In gold bullion, weekly sales picked up slightly. One-ounce American Gold Eagles climbed to 33,000 in September, rising 21,500 for the week versus 12,500 for the prior one. Two of three fractional Gold Eagles advanced. The quarter-ounce size entered September for the first time with 2,000. The tenth-ounce …

• US Inflation Rises 1.1%
  The cost of living in the U.S. rose in August for a second month in a row as energy and food prices continued to climb, the government reported Friday. The 12-month inflation rate rose as well, but the annual core number remained below preferred Fed levels which keeps conversations of deflation circling …