Gold futures settled lower on Friday, falling for the week and from a 13-month high, as the U.S. dollar rebounded and global stocks gained.
Gold for April delivery declined $13.40, or 1.1%, to close at $1,259.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The stock market’s recent rally is the "most obvious headwind for gold, as day traders and fast money move in to skim as much off this dead cat bounce as they can," MarketWatch quoted Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group.
Gold futures posted a 0.9% weekly decline after rallying 4.1% last week. They are 18.8% higher on the year so far. On Thursday, they closed at their best price since Feb. 2, 2015.
In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street survey:
"This week, Kitco’s online survey received 1,085 votes, of which 829, or 77%, were in the bullish camp for next week. The remaining 175 participants, or 16%, say they are bearish, while the other 81, or 7%, say they are neutral. Votes tallied for this survey start from Wednesday morning until Friday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.
Of the 34 analysts contacted, 11 responded, or which 7, or 64%, are bullish on gold. The remaining four votes were split with 18% calling for lower gold and the other 18% calling for sideways prices next week."
Elsewhere on Friday, silver for May delivery gained 5.6 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $15.605 an ounce. Silver prices slipped 0.6% on the week after soaring 6.7% last week. They are $1.80, or 13.1%, higher than their final 2015 settlement of $13.80 an ounce.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
April platinum declined $8, or 0.8%, to $969.70 an ounce, falling 1.7% from a week ago.
- Palladium for June delivery rose $6, or 1.1%, to $579.95 an ounce, but gained 3% on the week.
For the year to date, platinum and palladium are up by 8.6% and 3.2%.
London Precious Metals Prices
London precious metals mixed it up on Friday and for the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold declined $1.75, or 0.1%, to $1,264.75 an ounce.
- Silver added 23 cents, or 1.5%, to $15.50 an ounce.
- Platinum declined $5, or 0.5%, to $974 an ounce.
- Palladium added $5, or 0.9%, to $576 an ounce.
For the week, gold fell 1% while the others registered gains of 0.5% for silver, 1.5% for platinum and 4.7% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint weekly bullion totals were the same as last week.
Gold coins rose by 16,000 ounces, matching not only last week’s total but also the sales splits of 14,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 2,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalo coins.
Silver coin sales moved up by 1 million ounces and like last week, American Silver Eagles accounted for the entire total. The U.S. Mint is rationing weekly sales of the coins because of silver planchet shortages. The final batch of this week’s supply was ordered on Thursday. Silver Eagles are tracking a record pace with year to date sales of 12 million — 20.9% higher than through 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 | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | Mar Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 10,000 | 11,500 | 89,000 | 67,500 | 12,500 | 169,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 23,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 30,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 36,000 | 12,000 | 4,000 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 35,000 | 10,000 | 145,000 | 100,000 | 20,000 | 265,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 34,000 | 19,000 | 2,000 | 55,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | 5,954,500 | 4,782,000 | 1,263,500 | 12,000,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 105,000 | 0 | 105,000 |
FYI CoinNews readers – Numismatic counterfeit expert F. Michael “Skip” Fazzari of Florida has reported recent coin show sightings in Florida of counterfeit coins & gold ingots including: 2013-W, 2014-W & 2015-W Proof silver American Eagle $1 coins in original Mint packaging that are close enough to pass as real at a quick glance. PAMP (TM) Suisse Lady Fortuna 1-ounce .9999 fine gold ingots in their blister pack with assay certification printed on them. The ingot & packaging are counterfeit & again look real at first glance. He said the weight was only off by 0.5g but thickness was off… Read more »
Seth, How are these fakes getting into the country? Do the sellers know they are fakes? If they do, they should be banned from the hobby.
Joe C. – These appear to be from China, where the majority of numismatic counterfeits are made. EBay (TM) cracked down on a few sellers awhile back when it was rampant, but it appears they are slipping thru the cracks mostly at small coin shows & small coin shops a few pieces at a time. It is the reason you see new security features on bullion coins by the Royal Canadian Mint & Perth Mint Australia with laser-etched microprinting & small radial lines that are harder to copy. The RCM was the leader in this anti-counterfeiting effort since at least… Read more »