Precious metals rose Friday, padding weekly gains for gold and silver while trimming losses on the week for platinum and palladium.
Gold for December delivery added $14.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,796.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the best since Oct. 14.
"Inflation is the one thing that everybody is talking about today," Reuters quoted Daniel Pavilonis, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
"The perception is that the Federal Reserve is behind the curve, and the metals market is looking at that as the Fed is not going to do enough to slow inflation … that is where gold is going to find its value."
Gold futures advanced 1.6% this week after rising 0.6% this week. They are 5.2% 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 15 Wall Street analysts participated in Kitco News’ gold survey. Among the participants, 13 or 87%, called for gold prices to rise. At the same time, two analysts, or 13%, were neutral on gold in the near term. No analysts were bearish on gold.
Meanwhile, A total of 598 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 360 respondents, or 60%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 134, or 22%, said lower, while 104 voters, or 17%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery tacked on 27.9 cents, or 1.2%, to close at $24.449 an ounce. Silver futures soared 4.7% this week, notching their fifth straight weekly increase. The precious metal has advanced a combined $2.11, or 9.5%, in their five weeks of gains. However, silver prices are still 7.4% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
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January platinum added $2.40, or 0.2%, to end at $1,052.10 an ounce, but logged a 0.6% weekly decline.
- Palladium for December delivery added $17.50, or 0.9%, to end at $2,035.60 an ounce, but dropped 2% on the week.
Both remained lower on the year so far with losses of 2.5% for platinum and 17% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
United States Mint gold bullion sales slowed overall this week — barely — compared to last week. The Mint’s silver sales posted gains after being muted last week. In week-over-week comparisons:
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Sales of American Gold Eagles rose 27,500 ounces after increasing 12,500 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Buffalo gold coins moved up 4,000 ounces after climbing 20,000 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Silver Eagles climbed 576,000 ounces after being unchanged last week.
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 | Last Week | This Week | August | September | October | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 12,000 | 21,000 | 112,000 | 67,500 | 114,500 | 928,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 21,000 | 4,000 | 3,000 | 84,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 34,000 | 8,000 | 12,000 | 140,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 30,000 | 50,000 | 35,000 | 55,000 | 420,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 20,000 | 4,000 | 27,500 | 24,000 | 36,500 | 296,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 576,000 | 3,930,000 | 2,735,000 | 1,076,000 | 26,751,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
Sir Kaiser, now all we need is to hitch a ride with the Power Cosmic wielding Silver Surfer.
Palladium is under $2000 again!
NumisdudeTX