Precious metals futures fell Friday, padding their weekly losses. Gold finished the day at a more than two-week low after kicking the week off with an almost five-week high.
Gold for June delivery on Friday lost $10.50, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,275.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since May 2.
"The risk-off tone is not delivering a strong bid for gold, and that is mainly attributed to the overall strength we saw with U.S. data this week and optimistic outlooks we saw on the corporate front," MarketWatch quoted Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.
Gold futures traded 0.9% lower this week after climbing 0.5% last week. They are 0.4% lower on the year to date. In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street & Main Street surveys:
"Eighteen market professionals took part in the Wall Street survey. A total of nine voters, or 50%, called for gold to rise. Another six, or 33%, predicted gold would fall. The remaining three voters, or 17%, saw a sideways market or else were neutral.
Meanwhile, 332 respondents took part in an online Main Street poll. A total of 167 voters, or 50%, called for gold to rise. Another 110, or 33%, predicted gold would fall. The remaining 55 voters, or 17%, saw a sideways market."
Silver for July delivery fell 15.1 cents, or 1%, to end at $14.388 an ounce. Silver futures slid 2.7% this week following two weekly declines of 1.3% and 0.2%. They are 7.4% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
July platinum declined $13.30, or 1.6%, to close at $820.30 an ounce, for a 5.2% weekly loss.
- Palladium for June delivery dropped $18.90, or 1.4%, to settle at $1,305.50 an ounce, for a 3.3% weekly loss.
Both are higher on the year so far with increases of 2.5% for platinum and 9.1% for palladium.
London Precious Metals Prices
London precious metals prices ended lower on Friday and mostly lower on the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold declined $10.90, or 0.8%, to $1,280.80 an ounce.
- Silver fell 31.5 cent, or 2.1%, to $14.48 an ounce.
- Platinum declined $19, or 2.3%, to $823 an ounce.
- Palladium fell $19, or 1.4%, to $1,316 an ounce.
In LBMA results for the week, palladium rose 0.3% while the others logged losses of 0.5% for gold, 2.1% for silver, and 4% for platinum.
US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales
In United States Mint bullion products last week, only American Silver Eagles moved ahead when they logged sales of 92,000 ounces. This week, Silver Eagle sales were unchanged.
Only the Mint’s gold bullion coins registered gains this week with advances of 1,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 1,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | March | April | May | 2019 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin* | N/A | 4,000 | 6,500 | N/A | 40,000 | ||
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 8,500 | 6,500 | 1,000 | 71,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 0 | 19,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 26,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 0 | 135,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 5,500 | 6,500 | 1,000 | 42,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 92,000 | 0 | 850,000 | 1,196,000 | 160,000 | 8,281,000 |
| Lowell 5 Oz Silver Coin* | N/A | 80,000 | N/A | 80,000 | |||
