Gold, Silver Drop for Week; US Bullion Coins Steady

Gold and silver sank Friday, dragging both into the red for the week. Gold prices fell 0.7% for their first weekly loss in three and silver prices tumbled 2.3% for a second week of declines.

On Friday, gold for August delivery dived $32.80, or 2.3%, to settle at $1,383.00 an ounce on the Comex in New York. A better-than-expected U.S. jobs report was partially blamed for the losses.

"The employment numbers were better than consensus, which suggests the [Federal Reserve] may consider stopping bond purchases sooner," said Peter Hug, global trading director at Kitco Metals, in emailed remarks, though he added that he doesn’t agree with that view.

"The numbers were neutral at best and I continue to believe that the Fed will maintain course, at least into fall," he said.

In weekly gold surveys, Bloomberg’s is the most bullish since the bear market began. Nineteen participants forecast higher gold prices next week while eight were bearish and six neutral. Kitco’s survey leaned just a tad bullish.

"In the Kitco News Gold Survey, out of 36 participants, 22 responded this week. Of those 22 participants, nine see prices up, while seven see prices down and six see prices moving sideways or are neutral," reports Kitco News.

"Participants who see higher prices next week said prices should holding above $1,350, the lows of the current range… Those who see weaker prices said a return to the downtrend is likely…"

As for the year-to-date, gold prices have fallen $292.80, or 17.5%.

Silver posted the largest percentage losses Friday. Silver for July delivery plunged 96.4 cents, or 4.3%, to $21.74 an ounce. The white metal leads in percentage losses this year as well, down 28.1%. In dollars, prices have plummeted $8.48 this year.

In other New York precious metals futures:

• July platinum fell $26.70, or 1.8%, to $1,502.60 an ounce. Despite Friday’s retreat, platinum still logged a healthy weekly advance of 2.8%.

• Palladium for September delivery dipped $1.10, or 0.1%, to $761.20 an ounce. It rose 1.0% from a week ago.

For the year-to-date, platinum has fallen 2.6% but palladium has soared 8.2%.

London Fix Precious Metals

London precious metals also declined across the board Friday, though losses were mild compared to bullion futures in New York. When contrasting the Thursday PM to Friday PM London Fix prices:

• Gold lost $14.00, or 1.0%, to $1,386.00 an ounce,
• Silver turned down 2.0 cents, or 0.1%, to $22.60 an ounce,
• Platinum dropped $10.00, or 0.7%, to $1,505.00 an ounce, and
• Palladium shed $2.50, or 0.3%, to $754.00 an ounce

Metals split for the week with gold off 0.6% and the others higher by 0.1% for silver, 3.2% for platinum and 1.3% for palladium.

US Bullion Coin Sales in June

Sales this week of U.S. Mint bullion products were stronger for gold coins but a touch weaker overall for silver coins. In the weekly bullion breakdowns:

• Gold coins shot higher by 21,500 ounces after gaining 19,500 ounces in the previous week. Splits were 17,000 ounces in 22-karat American Gold Eagles and 4,500 ounces in 24-karat American Gold Buffalo coins.

• Silver coins advanced by 822,000 ounces compared to the prior week’s 858,500 ounces. Splits were 782,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles and 40,000 ounces from the just released Perry’s Victory 5 ounce coin.

The following are daily, June and year-to-date bullion coin totals as provided by the United States Mint.

Figures above are in the number of coins sold, not in ounces.

US Silver Coin Melt Values in June

Using London silver fixings, the melt values this week of older U.S. coins and modern bullion silver coins were nearly unchanged. The year-to-date is a different picture, as shown in the following table.

Use this site’s coin melt calculator to find values per coin.