Bullion Prices & Business Weekend Recap – June 12, 2010

U.S. gold rose, marking a third straight week of gains, as bargain-hunters stepped in after the yellow metal fell 1.9 percent in two days from its record high of $1,254 an ounce Tuesday.

Despite edging lower Friday, other precious metals registered weekly increases also, with silver and palladium jumping the most.

Disappointing U.S. retails sales pressured stocks and oil Friday. Crude fell for the first time in four days, but still surged 3.2 percent for the week. U.S. stocks rallied in the final hour to pad weekly gains, with the Dow closing higher for the first week in a month. European stocks were mixed on Friday, but all rose for the week as well.

In New York precious metals weekly prices, August gold advanced $12.50, or 1.0 percent, to end at $1,230.20 an ounce.

"We’ve seen gold reassert itself as an alternative currency," Evy Hambro, the manager of Blackrock Investment Management Ltd.’s World Mining Fund, was quoted on Bloomberg. "You only really get a true bull market for gold when gold is rising in all currencies, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing."

New York silver for July delivery soared 93.2 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $18.231 an ounce. July platinum ended up $9.70, or 0.6 percent, to $1,535.00 an ounce. September palladium surged $17.55, or 4.1 percent, to close at $448.55 an ounce.

"Gold is a barometer of risk right now," James Moore, an analyst with Thebulliondesk.com in the U.K. was quoted on MarketWatch. "There’s still good level of investor support" on continued worries about Europe’s debt situation.

"Demand for gold as a safe haven and an alternative currency remains, though maybe not in the heightened way it was a few weeks ago," Credit Agricole analyst Robin Bhar, was quoted on Reuters.

In London bullion weekly prices, gold was fixed to $1,220.00 an ounce, advancing $16.50, or 1.4 percent. Silver rose 55.0 cents, or 3.1 percent to $18.310 an ounce.

"The yellow metal is trending towards being range-bound as neither side is apparently willing to let things get beyond the broader psychological markers at $1200 and $1250 per ounce," Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc, said earlier Friday. "Gold could find support at $1,210 and $1,203, while resistance overhead remains visible at $1,228 and $1,240 respectively."

In PGM metals, platinum settled at $1,539.00 an ounce, gaining $12.00, or 0.8 percent while palladium was $449.00 an ounce, adding $9.00, or 2.0 percent.

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

(June 4 – 11)

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 Precious Metals Prices

World Business News: Oil, Gasoline, and Stocks Prices

Crude oil futures fell "more than 2% Friday as a weaker-than-expected read on U.S. retail sales hung over prices, but posted a healthy weekly gain," wrote Claudia Assis and Nick Godt of MarketWatch.

"It’s all about the economy," Chip Hodge, who oversees a $9 billion natural-resource bond portfolio as senior managing director at MFC Global Investment Management in Boston, said on Bloomberg. "Economic sentiment is going to remain the ultimate driver of this market for the foreseeable future."

On Friday, New York crude oil for July delivery fell $1.70, or 2.3 percent, to close to $73.78 a barrel. However, oil prices rose $2.27 a barrel for the week.

Prices at the pump declined two-tenths of a cent between Friday and Saturday. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.702 a gallon, according to a AAA fuel report. The price is 1.9 cents lower than last week, 18.8 cents less than a month back, and 6.3 cents higher than a year ago.

U.S. stocks "turned up during the last hour of trade Friday after a choppy session, erasing deep losses triggered by a disappointing retail sales report, and the Dow posted its first weekly gain in a month," wrote Alexandra Twin of CNNMoney.com.

"The macro news has been increasingly negative, but you still have some companies reporting good forecasts, and people start to think (selling) got a bit overdone," Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at ChannelCapitalResearch.com in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, said on Reuters.

Friday closing figures for the three major US indexes follow:

• The Dow rose 38.54 points, or 0.38 percent, to close at 10,211.07.

• The S&P climbed 4.76 points, or 0.44 percent, to finish at 1,091.60.

• The NASDAQ added 24.89 points, or 1.12 percent, to 2,243.60.

For the week, the Dow jumped 2.81 percent, the S&P surged 2.51 percent and the Nasdaq advanced 1.10 percent.

And in other world markets on Friday:

• The German DAX fell 8.76 points to close at 6,047.83.

• The Paris CAC 40 climbed 38.88 points to end at 3,555.52.

• The London FTSE 100 added 31.18 points to 5,163.68.

For the week, the DAX gained 1.83 percent, the CAC 40 soared 2.89 percent and the FTSE 100 advanced 0.74 percent.

U.S. retail sales fell for the first time in eight months in May, but a rise in consumer sentiment suggests shoppers should not be counted out. Conway G. Gittens reports in the following Reuters video.

Bullion and Business Articles

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

• Fractional American Gold Eagle Bullion Values
  With 2010 Fractional Gold Eagle Coins due from the United States Mint in two days — Thursday, June 10, it is a good time to review the history and general values associated with last year’s versions.

  First introduced in 1986 to allow buyers a convenient and cost-effective method of adding gold to their investment portfolios, the U.S. Mint strikes four different sizes of the American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins — the standard one ounce, along with fractional 1/2 ounce, 1/4 ounce and 1/10 ounce sizes.

  Last year’s fractionals were released on December 3, 2009, which is atypical. They are usually issued much earlier and available for most of the year. But exceedingly high demand for the one ounce coins resulted in delays. Considering these circumstances, slighter mintages could have been expected for the smaller coins…