Precious metals advanced for a second day in a row on Friday, but they divided on the week. Gold and silver eked out another weekly win — their second straight, while platinum and palladium finished lower than week ago. Platinum’s weekly loss was its third in four weeks. Palladium, meanwhile, extended its weekly losing streak to four in a row.
Gold for December delivery rose $1.40, or 0.08%, to settle at $1,758.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Anyone trying to convince market participants that inflation is not here, that’s a fool’s game," and with soaring energy prices due to a crunch in China and Europe likely to hit growth and earnings, that will leave us with a volatile October and, in turn, support gold, Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said according to Reuters.
Gold futures picked up 0.4% this week after edging 30 cents higher last week. They bounced 2% on Thursday, but still marked September and third quarter losses of 3.4% and 0.8%. On Wednesday, gold futures ended at their lowest price since March 31. Gold prices are 7.2% 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 14 Wall Street analysts participated in Kitco News’ gold survey. Among the participants, seven, or 50%, called for gold prices to rise. At the same time, four analysts, or 29%, called for lower gold prices next week. Three analysts, or 21%, were neutral on gold in the near term.
Meanwhile, A total of 889 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 430 respondents, or 48%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 340, or 38%, said lower, while 119 voters, or 13%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery gained 48.9 cents, or 2.2%, to close at $22.536 an ounce. Silver futures rose 0.5% this week after edging up 0.4% last week. They jumped 2.6% on Thursday, reducing their September and third quarter losses to 8.2% and 15.8%. As recently as Wednesday, they posted their weakest settlement since July 20, 2020. Silver prices are down 14.7% on the year.
In other precious metal futures on Friday and for the week:
-
January platinum added $11.20, or 1.2%, to end at $973.60 an ounce, but logged a 0.6% weekly decline.
- Palladium for December delivery climbed $3.90, or 0.2%, to $1,903.70 an ounce, but dropped 2.4% on the week. The metal finished Wednesday at its lowest price since May 14, 2020.
Both are lower on the year so far with losses of 9.8% for platinum and 22.4% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged this week. Last week, the Mint’s data showed increases of:
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22,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles,
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8,500 ounces in American Buffalo gold coins, and
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485,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
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 | August | September | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 18,500 | 112,000 | 67,500 | 813,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 21,000 | 4,000 | 81,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 34,000 | 8,000 | 128,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 35,000 | 365,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,500 | 27,500 | 24,000 | 259,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 485,000 | 3,930,000 | 2,735,000 | 25,675,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
*Note, this post has nothing to do precious metals* Hi All, I came to this site several months ago. At first, I really enjoyed all of your posts and even commented on some. But then midway, people’s posts started getting weird (IMHO) – numerous “Debbie Downer” posts about the US Mint accepting our orders when they clearly knew they were already sold out (ASE W Unc) how we would never receive our coins because we bought them past a certain time (ASE RP), etc. Now, the posts are simply no more fun to read. They seem to have little to… Read more »
Hear ! Hear ! Scarecrow !!!! Some people have nothing better to do in life but whine all the time. Debbie Downers !!!! and lots of whining as I say it “Old Ladies” !!!! LOL
This could not be a more perfect set of comments from the Scarecrow and Sam Tweedy bird! Hahaha let’s just keep segregating everyone. Masks here, no masks there, whites down here, birds up there, regular folk to the left, and smart people to the right. Woot woot.
The best question of all, if your here for coins, why do you let the comments bother you?? The articles are great and insightful everytime by the coin news staff.
Kaiser,
Mine is still down as well. Could it have something to do with the Morgan and Peace Dollar orders?
Very good question KW. and that is not fake news.
Kaiser, the proper acronym is YCMTSU.
You
Can’t
Make
This
S___
Up
American Innovation 2022 line-up – have to say I like them all.