Precious metals gained on Friday but only palladium finished higher on the week. Gold’s weekly loss was its first in five weeks.
Gold for August delivery added $18.70, or 1%, to settle at $1,892 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Part of what we’re seeing in terms of the strength in gold are inflation expectations and those are partly based on the stronger economic data, like higher jobs growth, a broader recovery in the U.S. (and) parts of Europe, and China is still doing well," Reuters quoted Jeffrey Christian, managing partner of CPM Group.
Gold futures shed 0.7% this week following four weekly gains that had lifted prices by a combined $137.60, or 7.8%. On Wednesday at $1,909.90 an ounce, gold recorded its highest settlement since Jan. 7. Gold prices are 0.2% 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, 16 analysts participated in Kitco News’ gold survey. Of those, 11 analysts, or 69%, said they were bullish on gold; at the same time, two analysts, or 13%, said they were bearish on prices next week. Three analysts, or 19%, said they see gold prices trading sideways.
Meanwhile, a total of 1023 votes were cast in online Main Street surveys. Of these, 552 respondents, or 54%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 301 respondents, or 29%, said lower, while 170 voters, or 17%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for July delivery rose 41.9 cents, or 1.5%, to close at $27.896 an ounce. Silver futures traded 0.4% lower this week after gains of 1.9% last week and 0.4% in the week ended May 21. They are 5.6% higher on the year.
In other precious metals futures on Friday and for the week:
-
July platinum climbed $1.90, or 0.2%, to finish at $1,164.40 an ounce, for a 1.5% weekly drop.
- Palladium for September delivery settled up $15.60, or 0.6%, to $2,842.20 an ounce, for a 0.4% weekly gain.
The two are higher on the year so far with advances of 7.9% for platinum and 15.8% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
The United States Mint has yet to report any bullion sales for June. 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 / Week / June | Last Week | February Sales | March Sales | April Sales | May | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 121,000 | 55,500 | 38,500 | 20,500 | 426,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 9,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 0 | 56,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55,000 | 0 | 0 | 150,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 13,000 | 16,000 | 33,500 | 11,000 | 44,000 | 166,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,191,500 | 4,087,000 | 1,053,000 | 0 | 13,106,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 13,600 | N/A | 35,000 | 0 | 40,000 | 75,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 50,000 | 2,900 | 52,900 |
Interesting. Gold is the only precious metal to be lower on the year. It doesn’t appear to be a case of “rounding up the usual suspects” since gold has been running so hot.
What’s the deal with going topless? You could use your helmet to drink from or, for soup and the like.
Appreciate the concern, but not to worry. Just sent it back to the Imperial Helmet Factory for its scheduled centennial spruce up, and several years late at that.
By the way, I’ve had many a steaming helping of extremely delicious German Ochsenschwanzsuppe from my fancy iron hat before, especially in the trenches.
Sure, and unlike the doughboys and tragically tardy Yanks, you can just jab that spike into the ground and it’s like a TV dinner with a built-in tray table, … maybe that should be, “radio dinner.”