Precious metals fell on Friday, cementing their weekly declines despite a couple of days of pricing gains. Daily losses were the first in three for gold, silver and platinum and the first in four for palladium.
Gold for August delivery shed $9.30, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,840.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"It has been a roller-coaster week for [gold] thanks to a volatile dollar and swinging Treasury yields," Lukman Otunuga, manager, market analysis at FXTM, told MarketWatch. Gold saw a weekly drop "as investors evaluate the impacts of rising interest rates on global growth."
Gold prices declined 1.9% this week after advancing 1.4% last week. On Tuesday, the yellow metal at $1,813.50 an ounce marked its weakest finish since May 12. Gold is 0.7% 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, five analysts, or 33%, were on gold bullish in the near term. At the same time, three analysts, or 20%, were bearish on gold and seven analysts, or 47%, were neutral on gold next week.
Meanwhile, 1,145 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 646 respondents, or 56%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 280, or 24%, said lower, while 219 voters, or 19%, were neutral in the near term."
Elsewhere, silver for July delivery shed 29.8 cents, or 1.4%, to end at $21.587 an ounce. Silver gave back 1.6% this week after edging 0.1% higher last week. On Tuesday, the precious metal at $20.954 an ounce finished at its worst price since May 12. Silver is 7.6% lower on the year.
In PGM prices on Friday and for the week:
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July platinum fell $20.90, or 2.2%, to close at $930.20 an ounce, for a 4.2% weekly fall. On Tuesday, platinum at $910.70 an ounce closed at its lowest price since April 27.
- Palladium for September delivery tumbled $67.80, or 3.6%, to end at $1,798.70 an ounce, for a 5.7% weekly decline. On Monday, palladium at $1,778.40 an ounce logged its lowest finish since Dec. 20.
Both are lower on the year so far with losses of 3.7% for platinum and 5.9% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged this week. Last week’s gains were limited to 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday / This Week | Last Week | April | May | June | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 80,500 | 137,500 | 0 | 568,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 5,000 | 0 | 58,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 14,000 | 8,000 | 0 | 110,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 0 | 370,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 27,500 | 56,000 | 2,500 | 240,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 0 | 9,281,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Speaking of the “drop” in precious metals’ prices, the price decline in Palladium is most interesting, especially compared to Gold’s price. As of Friday’s close, Palladium price = $1,798.70 and Gold price = $1,840.60. On Wednesday, the Mint “dropped” the price of the 2021 Proof and 2020 Burnished 1-ounce Palladium American Eagle coins to $2,800, since it’s prior week average price was in the $1850 to $1,900 pricing range of the Mint’s pricing grid. There is a chance the price could again fall to $2,750 next Wednesday if this week’s average price lands in the $1,800 to $1,850 grid pricing… Read more »
Great to see the Kaiser back. I was beginning to worry it was the end of the world as we know it. Now I feel fine.