Precious metals divided on Friday and for the week with gold and silver ending lower and platinum and palladium finishing higher. Weekly losses in gold and silver were their first in three weeks.
Gold for June delivery shed $4.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,777.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"I am confident that we’ve seen the lows last month and that gold will generally trend higher as the idea of stickier inflation takes hold among investors," MarketWatch quoted Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter. "No matter what the Fed does in the long run, the size of the federal debt demands that they keep rate hikes well behind the rate of inflation. As investors increasingly understand this dynamic, they’ll increase allocations to gold."
Gold futures traded 0.1% lower this week after weekly gains of 2% last week and 1% in the week ended April 9. They are 6.2% 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:
"This week, 17 analysts participated in Kitco News’ gold survey. Both neutral and bullish sentiments were tied, garnering seven votes each or 41%. At the same time, three analysts, or 18%, were bearish on gold next week.
Meanwhile, a total of 850 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 575 respondents, or 68%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 154, or 28%, said lower, while 121 voters, or 14%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for May delivery declined 10.5 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $26.075 an ounce. Silver futures traded 0.1% lower this week following increases of 3.1% last week and 1.5% in the week ending April 9. They are 1.3% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
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July platinum rose $24.60, or 2%, to settle at $1,233.10 an ounce, for a 2% weekly gain.
- Palladium for June delivery added $14.10, or 0.5%, to $2,857 an ounce, for a 3% weekly gain. On Wednesday, palladium marked a record settlement of $2,875.60 an ounce.
The two are higher on the year so far with increases of 14.3% for platinum and 16.4% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
Performances of United States Mint bullion products were mixed compared to a week ago with silver sales down — actually flat this week — and overall gold sales up. In week-over-week comparisons:
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Sales of American Gold Eagles moved up 11,500 ounces compared to 6,500 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Buffalo gold coins rose 500 ounces after rising 5,000 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Silver Eagles ended flat compared to 457,000 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.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | February Sales | March Sales | April Sales | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 3,000 | 6,500 | 11,500 | 121,000 | 55,500 | 31,000 | 398,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9,000 | 0 | 0 | 31,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 56,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55,000 | 0 | 150,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 500 | 16,000 | 33,500 | 9,000 | 120,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 457,000 | 0 | 3,191,500 | 4,087,000 | 1,053,000 | 13,106,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 35,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
OPEN QUESTION…
Anyone care to comment on “die rotation”? Is it a positive attribute or a detraction for a given proof/cameo, slabbed coin? FYI, the “rotation” is not noted on the slab label.
It does seem a bit odd that we place a premium on errors, even over “perfection.”