Gold futures rebounded Friday after two days of losses but they still posted their first weekly decline in three as the U.S. dollar firmed from a week earlier and as investors sought more risk.
Gold for June delivery on Friday added $8.10, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,234.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"In general, I think that gold is starting to weaken because the fear factors that drove it higher at the start of the year are subsiding. China’s economy isn’t collapsing and earnings so far haven’t been as bad as feared," MarketWatch quoted Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
Gold futures dipped 0.7% this week after rising 1.7% last week and 0.2% the week before then. As recently as Tuesday, they logged a more than 3-week high at $1,260.90 an ounce. The yellow metal for the year to date is 16.5% higher.
In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street survey:
"This week 748 people participated in Kitco’s online and Twitter gold surveys. Of those, 493 voters, or 66%, said they expect to see higher prices next week; at the same time, 185 people, or 25%, said they expect to see lower prices next week; and 70 people, or 9%, are neutral on the market…
The market professional survey is also seeing a lot more volatility, with the bearish side having a slight advantage. Out of 36 market experts contacted, 17 responded, of which four professionals, or 24%, said they are bullish on gold. Eight professionals, or 47%, said they are bearish, and five analysts, or 25%, are neutral."
Elsewhere on Friday, silver for May delivery rose 14 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $16.313 an ounce — just below a more than 10-month high. On Wednesday, silver prices scored that high at $16.325 an ounce.
Silver prices surged 6% this week, a second weekly gain, after advancing 2.3% last week. They are up so far this year by $2.51 or 18.2%.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
July platinum shed $3, or 0.3%, to $989.90 an ounce, but moved up 2.2% from a week ago.
- Palladium for June delivery advanced $7.35, or 1.3%, to $568.25 an ounce, and jumped 5.5% on the week.
For the year to date, their gains total to 10.8% for platinum and 1.1% for palladium.
London Precious Metals Prices
London precious metals were mixed on Friday on the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold declined $6.75, or 0.6%, to $1,227.10 an ounce.
- Silver added 4 cents, or 0.3%, to $16.17 an ounce.
- Platinum declined $7, or 0.7%, to $986 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $13, or 2.3%, to $568 an ounce.
For the week, gold declined 1% while silver, platinum and palladium logged gains of 6.7; 3%; and 5.8%.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint gold coin sales jumped by 39,000 ounces this week — the most since 98,500 ounces sold the week of Jan. 11 when the new 2016-dated editions launched. Gold coins advanced by a very solid 26,500 ounces last week. The weekly sales splits include 33,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles compared to 20,500 ounces previously and 6,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalo compared to match last week.
The U.S. Mint this week limited sales of American Silver Eagles to 1,036,000 coins, which included the 36,000 coins brought over from last week’s allocation of 1,042,500 coins. On Wednesday, bullion distributors claimed the last of this week’s supply. 2016 Silver Eagles continue to run at a record pace with 17 million coins sold so far — a tally that is 26% higher than the same time in record year 2015.
Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Mar Sales | Apr Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,500 | 17,500 | 29,500 | 29,000 | 48,000 | 233,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 33,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 60,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 10,000 | 75,000 | 30,000 | 350,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 12,000 | 72,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | N/A | 1,006,500 | 1,036,000 | 4,106,000 | 2,157,500 | 17,000,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
