Most precious metals declined on Friday and they all plunged on the week. Their weekly losses ranged from nearly 6% for gold to just over 11% for palladium.
Gold for August delivery shed $5.80, or 0.3%, to close at $1,769 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since gold ended April 30 at $1,767.70 an ounce.
Gold tumbled 5.9% this week following two straight weekly losses of 0.7%. Before then, the precious metal posted a string of four weekly gains that had raised its price by a combined 7.8%. Gold prices have fallen 6.6% 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 18 Wall Street analysts participated in Kitco News’ gold survey. Among the participants, 10, or 56%, called for gold prices to fall; simultaneously, bullish and neutral analysts were tied this week, with each viewpoint garnering four votes, or 22%…
Meanwhile, 2,174 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these,1,127 respondents, or 52%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 670, or 31%, said lower, while 377 voters, or 17%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for July delivery rose 11.3 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $25.969 an ounce. Silver futures sank 7.7% this week after climbing 0.9% last week. On Thursday, they marked their weakest finish since April 20. They are 1.7% lower on the year.
In other precious metals futures on Friday and for the week:
-
July platinum fell $14.20, or 1.4%, to end at $1,041 an ounce, for a 9.6% weekly loss.
- Palladium for September delivery dropped $42.30, or 1.7%, to end at $2,469.90 an ounce, for a 11.2% weekly decline.
They are divided on the year so far with platinum down 3.5% and palladium up 0.7%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
The United States Mint published no bullion sales increases this week after gains last week of 4,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 7,000 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.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday / This Week | Last Week | March Sales | April Sales | May | June | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 55,500 | 38,500 | 20,500 | 4,000 | 430,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 55,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 150,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,000 | 33,500 | 11,000 | 44,000 | 7,000 | 173,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 4,087,000 | 1,053,000 | 0 | 0 | 13,106,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 35,000 | 0 | 40,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | 50,000 | 2,900 | 0 | 52,900 |
