Precious metals ended mixed Friday with losses in gold and silver cementing their weekly declines — albeit modest.
Gold for December delivery edged down 80 cents, or less than 0.1%, to end at $1,291.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier Friday, gold scored its highest intraday price this year at $1,306.90 an ounce.
"The selloff is unusual as there was no data or market news to account for the [roughly] $15 drop" from the day’s highs, MarketWatch quoted Mark O’Byrne, research director at GoldCore. "Risk aversion has eased with stocks eking out small gains [at the time of gold’s settlement] and some traders may have decided to take profits at the $1,300 level."
Gold futures traded 0.2% lower this week after advancing 2.3% last week. The yellow metal is 12.2% higher on the year to date. In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street survey:
"Eighteen market professionals took part in a Kitco News Wall Street survey. Fourteen voters, or 78%, see gold prices rising by the end of next week. Two, or 11%, voted lower, and the same number said sideways.
The Kitco online Main Street poll resulted in 986 votes, with 645 participants, or 65%, calling for gold to climb over the next week. Another 280 voters, or 28%, said that gold will fall, while 61, or 6%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for September delivery shed 5.3 cents, or 0.3%, to finish at $17 an ounce.
Silver futures declined 0.4% this week after rallying 5% last week. On Monday, they closed at $17.122 an ounce for their best settlement since June 14. Silver prices are 6.3% higher so far this year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
October platinum rose 70 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $982.40 an ounce, but logged a 0.7% weekly decline.
- Palladium for September delivery added 95 cents, or 0.1%, to $927.10 an ounce — their strongest close since early 2001. The precious metal rallied 3.6% on the week.
Both metals are higher on the year to date with gains of 8.5% for platinum and 35.7% for palladium.
London Precious Metals Prices
London precious metals prices ended higher on Friday and for the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold gained $10.65 or 0.8%, to 1,295.80 an ounce.
- Silver jumped 13 cents, or 0.8%, to $17.15 an ounce.
- Platinum rose $10, or 1%, to $985 an ounce.
- Palladium added $5, or 0.5%, to $932 an ounce.
For the week, advances totaled 0.8% for gold, 0.4% for silver, 0.1% for platinum, and 3.8% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2017
United States Mint bullion sales this week ended flat for gold coins but improved a bit for silver coins. In week-over-week comparisons:
-
Gold coin sales were muted after rising by 7,000 ounces previously with splits of 5,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 2,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
-
Silver coins advanced by 125,000 ounces compared to 110,000 ounces previously. American Silver Eagles accounted for all silver sales for a seventh straight week.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | July | August | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 0 | 13,500 | 4,500 | 160,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 28,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 0 | 290,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 74,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 110,000 | 125,000 | 2,320,000 | 235,000 | 14,788,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
i sea price of *palladium rising,? is the US Mint going to mint 1.oz American Eagle bullion palladium coin. Have they been stocking up over the years, when the price was low$, anyone know?
Joe Brown – The first palladium coin struck by the U.S. Mint in it’s history will be issued next month. It will also be the the first bullion version coin struck in high relief on both sides by the U.S. Mint! But you can’t buy it directly from the Mint. The Mint only sells its bullion version coins to it’s Authorized Purchasers, who then mark them up a lot & sell to the public (they have a 100% monopoly on U.S. Mint bullion coins). It will be a $25 American Eagle palladium bullion coin in 1-oz of .9995 fine palladium.… Read more »
Seth – Thanks for answering ,my ?’s. i like that it’s going to be high relief on both sides, like you say a first for our mint. it would have been nice if the first palladium U.S. Mint coin was the remake of the Anthony deFrancisci *PEACE* dollar, for these crazy times. the 1921 Peace bullion dollar, high relief was said to be impractical for stacking. ?* is the mint using monster box’es, hearing that they are bullion, also is their a rough idea of mintage #,’s . i’m not sure, do these bullion dealers, who sell to us, are… Read more »