Precious metals futures finished mostly higher Friday. Gold scored its fourth win in five sessions, padding its weekly gain — its first in three weeks.
Gold for April delivery edged up 90 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,356.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures advanced 3.1% this week after falling 1.6% last week and dropping 1.1% in the week before then. On Wednesday, they ended at their highest price ($1,358 an ounce) since Jan. 25 — fueled by a higher-than-expected reading on inflation.
"Rising inflation, coupled with slightly weaker U.S. growth readings and a struggling dollar should continue to provide gold with an element of support," INTL FCStone said in a note, according to Reuters.
The yellow metal is 3.6% higher so far this year. In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street survey:
"Twenty market professionals took part in the Wall Street survey, with twelve, or 60%, calling for gold to rise in the next week. Previously, Wall Street had been bearish for two weeks in a row. Another seven voters, or 35%, said lower, while one voter was undecided.
Participation of 450 votes was lighter than usual in the online Main Street poll. A total of 284 voters, or 63%, said bullish. Another 106, or 24%, said lower, while 60, or 13%, were neutral."
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery declined 8.4 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $16.712 an ounce. Silver futures increased 3.6% this week following two weekly declines of 3.4% and 4.2%. They are 2.5% lower on the year to date.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
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April platinum added $11.20, or 1.1%, to $1,012.30 an ounce, for a 5.3% weekly gain.
- Palladium for March delivery surged $29.10, or 2.9%, to $1,035.75 an ounce, for a 7.5% increase on the week.
The two metals remain divided on the year with platinum 7.9% higher and palladium 2.4% lower.
London Precious Metals Prices
London precious metals prices ended mixed on Friday and higher than a week ago. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold slipped 35 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $1,352.10 an ounce.
- Silver added a penny, or less than 0.1%, to $16.835 an ounce.
- Platinum rose $6, or 0.6%, to $1,005 an ounce.
- Palladium added $20, or 2%, to $1,037 an ounce.
As for the week in LBMA metal prices, advances totaled 2.9% for both gold and silver, 3.7% for platinum and 7% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
On Monday, the United States Mint released its 1-ounce, .9995 2018-dated American Platinum Eagle. The bullion piece logged first-day sales of 15,000 coins, moved up by another 2,500 coins on Tuesday, and then climbed by another 2,500 coins on Wednesday. It has remained at 20,000 so far, matching the final mintages in years 2016 and 2017.
Elsewhere, U.S. Mint bullion sales ran quicker this week — somewhat for gold coins and more so for silver coins. In week-over-week comparisons:
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Gold coins rose by 2,000 ounces after turning up 1,000 ounces last week. Splits included 1,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles against 500 ounces previously, and 500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos like in the previous week.
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American Silver Eagles advanced by 410,000 coins after they moved up by 225,000 coins last week.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | December | January | February | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | N/A | 20,000 | N/A | N/A | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 1,500 | 38,000 | 36,000 | 3,000 | 39,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 16,000 | 0 | 16,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 26,000 | 0 | 26,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25,000 | 80,000 | 0 | 80,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 500 | 14,000 | 24,000 | 2,000 | 26,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 225,000 | 410,000 | 742,000 | 3,235,000 | 635,000 | 3,870,000 |
Note: CoinNews will be taking a one-week break from its daily bullion articles.
Inflation up + growth down + dollar sliding = gold rising
Losers + losers + losers = winners
Go figure
The fortunes of stocks, futures, bonds, currencies and any other variety of financial instrument do not by their very nature necessarily portend a win-win result. In fact, history teaches us that quite the opposite is all too often the case and it perhaps it is the contrary – that each and every winner requires a balancing/equalizing loser – that seems to have the advantage of prevalence. Possibly this unfortunate but likely inescapable circumstance is somewhat akin to erroneously thinking of the story of humankind as being one of long periods of peace occasionally disturbed by warfare, whereas the reality consists… Read more »
Precious metals tend to be the ultimate equalizer. Great supplementary source of income after retirement.
Wish I would have learned the precious metals game younger in my life / traveled to South America – bought raw gold in US dollars / had simple jewelry and statues made / imported back to my home country / than melted into bars.
Live and learn.
Mouse
Mouse –
There is a gold mine in Scottsdale, Arizona for sale at $2.79 million (USD) that includes 117 acres on “Gold Hill” on the edge of a national park (in a desert!). The price includes all mining/mineral rights also. The city of Scottsdale is home to the private Scottsdale Mint which produces some legal tender precious metals bullion coins & commemorative coins for foreign nations & some precious metals medallions/rounds. Maybe we all on this blog could start one of those internet “fund my project” accounts & go digging for gold in the 120-degree F heat! LOL
-NumisdudeTX
Seth Riesling,
A “go fund me” campaign for the mining of gold? I’m chuckling here because if anybody is foolish, silly, or gullible enough to actually be willing to “invest” in just such a venture they most likely should long have been pre-emptively relieved of their monetary resources simply on the grounds of being financially completely irresponsible and existentially totally incompetent. 🙂
Mouse, I also often play that same coulda/woulda/shoulda game with myself these days as to what I did or didn’t spend my money on over my almost fifty working years and through my almost two decades of retirement. I think of all the now-useless “artifacts” I accumulated over the years and the silly “events” I threw away my resources on, when, if I had had any inkling of subsequent reality, I would have accumulated oodles and gobs of precious metals and ended up with a healthy nest egg instead of a house full of worthless accoutrements. One gains wisdom too… Read more »
All Blogs above – hello! how are yaahh!, i guess this is a hobby, just for kicks! i* pretty much been in touch with it say! 7th, grade, after *dad was done with the Sunday* Globe*, i* would pull out my sections i like best* you know! comics, sports, & stock market*! plus it was one of my home jobs*, to clip-coupons* for *mom, well! that’s beside the point, i* got hooked on reading stocks, mark* the ones that caught my i*! even if i didn’t know what it was! ”’because we didn’t have this peace of crap! machine, i*… Read more »
Joe Brown, No Cadillac SUV in these here parts. Instead a bottom of the product line Toyota – or in this case rather more akin to an actual “toy” car – Yaris ’12, bare bones; am/fm radio, crank windows and manual door locks. Just the way I like it. Not in the habit of being a good bargainer, I just sat in the car with the salesman and said “I’ll take it”; so much for the idea of a good discount, oh well. Next time (if there is one), maybe a little discretion in that particular regard might just be… Read more »
btw – i* have to correct my self,* how i* got the stock bug! If anyone gives gives one! That really started with a kid, that hung around on the back of our dead end street, his father was a stockbroker or something to that nature, i don;t know what his title was tho! but that kid, would always have a daily paper left over from his rout! Well hes the one that gave us a rundown on, reading stocks, and how you make money on them, plus about divy*s & spilts! i* had know idea what all that print… Read more »
Hey! Old Collector – better than my 14 mile a gallon truck on a good day! At least you do a round trip, and have a 1/2 tank left, when you get home, plus less to maintain! I like having some pony*s under my hood. American*Graffiti*, your Toy*, has some zipp! had a renter for a mini weekend once!
i did have a 70 VW Army* green clown wagon, But i* took a sharp left at the very end of a pitch black country road, pedal to metal to get top speed of 68, right in to a old country mail box! then into a pine tree, 10′ next to it, somewhere *up*state*NY, with a bunch of clowns! then the mailbox fell out of the big pine, on my win shield and hood! Left it there, not a farm house in sight, we walked at least 10 miles some farm hand gave us a lift in back of his… Read more »
Joe Brown,
Perhaps said now sadly long defunct semi-primitive mode of Teutonic people’s transport is these days rather gallantly serving as a cozy and comfortable – it’s all relative – refuge for a local raccoon family and their friendly beaver clan neighbors.
Seth – Your idea is sound in my books lol Desert or not, the key now a days is underground mining. Peru is in the works with a Canadian firm to do just that. Sadly I feel that mine could possibly be stripped clean. Who knows, some mining companies have the resources to mine underground and to have a fully functional mint close by is a plus.
Mouse