Precious metals ended little changed on Friday while all but palladium scored sharp weekly gains. Gold posted its best finish in nearly three months.
Gold for June delivery rose $15.60, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,831.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close was the highest since Feb. 10 when gold ended at $1,842.70 an ounce.
The jobs data "is lagging, but suggest that, using last month’s data there was no urgency to change policy, which is price supportive for gold," Bloomberg News quoted Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG.
The U.S. jobs report released on Friday shows an increase of 266,000 jobs in April compared to expectations from economists of around 1 million jobs.
Gold futures traded 3.6% higher this week after losses of 0.6% last week and 0.1% in the week ended April 23. They are 3.4% 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:
"This week, 16 analysts participated in Kitco News’ gold survey. Of those, 14 analysts, or 88%, said they were bullish on gold; at the same time, two analysts, or 13%, said they were bearish on prices next week. There were no neutral votes for the gold prices this week.
Meanwhile, a total of 1,485 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 1,122 respondents, or 76%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 203, or 14%, said lower, while 160 voters, or 11%, were neutral."
Meanwhile, silver for May delivery was unchanged at $27.477 an ounce — the highest settlement since Feb. 25 when silver ended at $27.685 an ounce. Silver futures jumped 6.2% this week following losses of 0.8% last week and 0.1% in the week ended April 23. They are 4% higher on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
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July platinum declined $3.10, or 0.3%, to $1,254.50 an ounce, but logged a 4.1% weekly gain.
- Palladium for June delivery fell $22.30, or 0.8%, to $2,925.10 an ounce, for a 1% weekly loss. On Monday, palladium ended at a record settlement of $2,981.40 an ounce.
The two are higher on the year so far with increases of 16.2% for platinum and 19.2% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
The United States Mint published no bullion sales gains this week. Last week, Mint reported increases included:
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Sales of American Gold Eagles moved up 7,500 ounces.
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Sales of American Buffalo gold coins rose 2,000 ounces.
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 / This Week | Last Week | February Sales | March Sales | April Sales | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,500 | 121,000 | 55,500 | 38,500 | 406,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 9,000 | 0 | 0 | 31,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 56,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55,000 | 0 | 150,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 16,000 | 33,500 | 11,000 | 122,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,191,500 | 4,087,000 | 1,053,000 | 13,106,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | 35,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 50,000 | 50,000 |
