Bullion Prices & Business Weekend Recap – June 26, 2010

U.S. gold futures prices rushed toward their all-time high on Friday, capping a second day of gains and trimming losses from earlier in the week. A weaker dollar, stronger investor demand, and safe-haven buying were cited factors for lifting prices.

The yellow metal edged a touch lower than last Friday’s record high, narrowly halting a weekly winning streak that began in mid-May. Bullion’s sprint pared losses in other metals, although palladium was least affected having fallen the furthest.

In other markets, crude oil soared to close at a seven-week high while U.S. and European stocks ended with a down week as major indexes plunged between 2.35 percent and 4.54 percent.

Returning to bullion, New York gold for August delivery advanced $10.30, or 0.8 percent, to $1,256.20 on Friday, cutting its weekly loss to a modest 0.2 percent.

"Sovereign risk has attracted establishment money into gold, which tends to be long-term money. It’s about adding safe-haven security to portfolios. In the next few weeks you might see profit-taking, but the trend is solidly upwards," VM Group analyst Jessica Cross was cited on Reuters.

In other New York precious metals weekly prices, silver for July delivery fell 7.4 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $19.110 an ounce. July platinum finished down $16.60, or 1.0 percent, to $1,570.40 an ounce. And September palladium declined $13.50, or 2.7 percent, to close at $477.90 an ounce.

"Every sell-off for gold has been bought, every support level has held," Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist with Lind-Waldock in Chicago, was quoted on MarketWatch. "We’re still gravitating towards safe-haven" buying, he added.

In London bullion weekly prices, gold was fixed to $1,254.00 an ounce, dropping $2.00, or 0.2 percent. Silver fell 12.0 cents, or 0.6 percent to $18.650 an ounce.

"Gold and the dollar are re-establishing their inverse relationship," Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC in Chicago, said on Bloomberg. "Investors are adjusting to the Fed’s rate outlook and the amount of liquidity that’s out there. A lot of assets are looking at a significantly lower dollar."

In PGM weekly metals prices, platinum settled at $1,556.00 an ounce, falling $22.00, or 1.4 percent, while palladium was $471.00 an ounce for a loss of $13.00, or 2.7 percent.

Palladium "is expected to trend towards a balanced supply/demand equation or even a possible deficit in the current year, as Russian state stockpiles appear to be exhausted and as ETFs keep scooping available metal from the market. The palladium market has shown surpluses ranging from half a million to two million ounces per annum over the past nine years," noted Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc.

"The two big questions remaining in the palladium market at the moment are focusing on how much — if any — palladium Russia might release from state inventories (a secret number known only inside Kremlin walls) and what level of investor buying interest versus potential redemptions the noble metals-oriented ETFs will reflect as the year rolls on. Platinum and palladium ETFs have been major contributors to the hefty gains observed since the start of 2010 in the two metals."

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 18 – 25)

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 jumped on Friday "as a tropical disturbance in the Caribbean Sea looked more likely to develop into a storm and threaten Gulf of Mexico production," wrote Robert Gibbons from Reuters.

"We always see knee-jerk reactions when storms enter the Gulf, and there are concerns that storms will damage either offshore or onshore infrastructure," Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut, was quoted on Bloomberg.

New York crude oil for July delivery soared $2.35, or 3.1 percent, to $78.86 a barrel. Oil prices gained $1.68, or 2.2 percent, this week after surging $3.40 a barrel last week and $2.27 the prior week.

Prices at the pump fell two-tenths of a cent between Friday and Saturday. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.753 a gallon, according to the daily AAA fuel report. The price is 2.4 cents higher than last week, six-tenths of a cent lower than a month back, and 9.5 cents more than a year ago.

In U.S. stocks, "financial shares rallied Friday on relief that the new version of the Wall Street reform bill is less restrictive than had been expected, but the broader market was mixed at the end of a down week on Wall Street," wrote Alexandra Twin from CNNMoney.com.

"The approval of the financial regulation brings more clarity, some of the uncertainty was eliminated," Walter "Bucky" Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama, which oversees $17 billion, was quoted on Bloomberg. "You’re seeing some buying here."

Friday closing figures for the three major US indexes follow:

• The Dow fell 8.99 points, or 0.09 percent, to 10,143.81.

• The S&P advanced 3.07 points, or 0.29 percent, to finish at 1,076.76.

• The NASDAQ ended up 6.06 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,223.48.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.94 percent, the S&P declined 3.65 percent and the Nasdaq lost 3.74 percent.

And in other world markets on Friday:

• The German DAX declined 44.88 points to 6,070.60.

• The Paris CAC 40 lost 35.63 points to end at 3,519.73.

• The London FTSE 100 fell 53.76 points to close at 5,046.47.

For the week, the DAX lost 2.35 percent, the CAC 40 declined 4.54 percent and the FTSE 100 retreated 3.89 percent.

Bullion and Business Articles

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

• US Mint Sales: Bullion Coins Reach for Records
  United States Mint numismatic coin sales rose in a few areas last week, but Monday’s record gold prices and near $19.50 an ounce level for silver naturally draws investors and collectors more toward gold and silver bullion coins.

  The U.S. Mint updated sales figures for those coins Thursday morning, and a few areas draw attention…

  American Silver Eagles are a stone’s throw away from 18 million in sales this year, jumping 809,000 since last Wednesday, June 16, for 2,533,500 this month. Last year’s annual record of 28.7 million is clearly within reach. The pace, however, will have to pick up for June to surpass the 3,636,500 sold in May — the highest monthly level since 1986…

• You Want Ketchup With That? – Jon Nadler, Senior Analyst, Kitco Metals Inc.
  Fresh gains brought gold values to above the $1250 price point as the market opened for trading on Friday. Once again, little more in the way of an explanation for the metal’s early climb was being offered in the financial media than that ‘financial market turbulence’ and skepticism about the outcome of the upcoming G-20 summit were ‘unnerving investors.’

  Such news has, of course, already been baked into the gold price cake for some time now and there have been no new developments during the week. Save for, of course, the Fed meeting, which has given carry-traders a reprieve for doing what they do so well.

  US GDP data was revised downward this morning. Real gross domestic product for Q1 gained 2.7% as against estimates for a 3% rate of growth. The culprits blamed for the revision were weak consumer spending and a rise in the trade deficit. Meanwhile, core prices rose 0.7% during the same period. The US dollar remained a tad higher following the release of the statistics from the Commerce Department in Washington DC. Ditto, for Treasurys and gold…