Gold and silver increased on Friday, lifting their weekly gains, while platinum and palladium declined, padding their weekly losses. Gold also ended the day at a five-week high.
On Friday, gold for August delivery tacked on $22.70, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,875.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since May 6.
Gold prices advanced 1.4% this week after dipping 0.4% last week. They are 2.6% higher 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, there was a tie between bullish and neutral analysts, with each side garnering six votes, or 40%. At the same time, three analysts, or 20%, were bearish on gold in the near term.
Meanwhile, 598 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 274 respondents, or 46%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 167, or 28%, said lower, while 157 voters, or 26%, were neutral in the near term."
Elsewhere, silver for July delivery rose 11.4 cents, or 0.5%, to close at $21.931 an ounce. Silver prices inched up 0.1% this week after shedding 0.9% last week. They are 6.1% lower on the year.
In PGM prices on Friday and for the week:
-
July platinum lost $4.90, or 0.5%, to end at $971 an ounce, for a 4.5% weekly loss.
- Palladium for September delivery fell $8.60, or 0.5%, to end at $1,907 an ounce, for a 4% weekly loss
The pair is split on the year so far with platinum 0.5% higher and palladium 0.3% lower.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged last week. This week, and for the first gains in June, the Mint reported an increase of 2,500 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week / June | Last Week | March | April | May | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 140,500 | 80,500 | 137,500 | 568,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 3,000 | 5,000 | 58,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 14,000 | 8,000 | 110,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 75,000 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 370,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 2,500 | 0 | 64,500 | 27,500 | 56,000* | 240,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,080,500 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 9,281,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 14,200 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
*The U.S. Mint adjusted May bullion May sales with American Buffalos up 4,000 to 56,000 ounces.
Friday’s flight to safety, triggered by the hot inflation rate (8.9%) reported, saw sharp upward movements in gold, silver and The Dollar, all in one coordinated movement among those three amigos.
Isn’t the Biden Administration group just awesome.
Totally!
Hi Larry, Didnt the high inflation start under Trump? And didnt his chosen guy tell us repeatedly the inflation was only temporary? Do you remember any of that? The same guy Biden kept. Should Biden have fired Trump’s guy? Did Trump not make a good pick there? I thought I heard Trump say repeatedly how he always picks the best people. I guess in reality the Trump administration was as awesome as Biden’s is now. In my opinion, the high inflation we are experiencing now was caused by the excess money we have been flooding the country with since 2008,… Read more »
Everything is down on Monday morning except the price of oil. Go figure. 🙁
The worse tick is politics.