Precious Metals Decline in the Week Ending Oct. 16

Precious metals futures mixed it up on Friday with gold and palladium ending lower and silver and platinum finishing higher. They all posted weekly losses, however, trimming or more than taking back their gains from a week ago.

Gold for December delivery shed $2.50, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,906.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold ended down for the week "thanks to an appreciating U.S. dollar," MarketWatch quoted Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM. Overall, "it has been another range-bound week for gold thanks to fluctuating expectations over the U.S. fiscal stimulus, rising coronavirus cases across the world and jitters ahead of the U.S. elections."

Gold futures gave back 1% this week after rising the same amount last week. They gained 2.2% in the week before then. The yellow metal is 25.2% higher on the year to date.

In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street & Main Street surveys:

"This week, 16 analysts participated in the survey. A total of 10 voters, or 63%, called for gold prices to rise; two analysts, or 13%, called for lower prices next week; and four analysts, or 25%, said they see prices moving sideways…

Participation in Kitco News’ weekly online surveys has dropped to its lowest level since early-May. A total of 1,076 votes were cast this past week. Among those, 616 voters, or 57%, said they were bullish on gold next week. Another 225, or 21%, said they were bearish, while 235 voters, or 22%, were neutral."

Elsewhere, silver for December delivery rose 18.1 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $24.405. Silver futures traded 2.8% lower this week following two weekly gains — 4.5% last week and 4.1% in the week ended Oct. 2. Silver is ahead on the year by 36.2%.

In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:

• January platinum moved up $8, or 0.9%, to $869.30 an ounce, but posted a 2.8% weekly decline.

• Palladium for December delivery fell $24.80, or 1.1%, to $2,342.30 an ounce, for a 4.9% loss on the week.

The two are divided on the year so far with platinum 11.1% lower and palladium 22.7% higher.

London Precious Metals Prices (LBMA)

London precious metals prices ended mostly higher on Friday and mostly lower on the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:

• Gold rose $13.15, or 0.7%, to $1,905.05 an ounce.
• Silver added 42.5 cents, or 1.8%, to $24.36 an ounce.
• Platinum increased $24, or 2.8%, to $870 an ounce.
• Palladium was unchanged at $2,331 an ounce.

In LBMA weekly results, prices rose 0.2% for silver while they declined 1% for gold, 2.5% for platinum and 4.9% for palladium.

US Mint Bullion Sales in 2020

Overall, sales this week of United States Mint bullion products slowed for gold coins and picked up for silver coins. In week-over-week comparisons:

• Sales of American Gold Eagles advanced 11,000 ounces after increasing by 16,500 ounces last week.

• Sales of American Silver Eagles climbed 873,000 ounces after rising by 826,000 ounces last week.

• Sales of American Buffalo gold increased 5,000 ounces after they rose by 2,000 ounces last week.

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.