In precious metals trading Friday, gold and silver climbed while platinum and palladium declined. All the metals logged weekly losses, contrasting against their sharp gains of a week earlier.
Gold for February delivery rose $12.40, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,800.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"A lot of traders are focusing on both the Fed and ECB, which signalled more tightening, and we’ve seen global bond yields rise significantly, and that’s why gold is having a down week," Reuters quoted Edward Moya, senior analyst with OANDA.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its benchmark funds rate by 0.5% to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%.
Gold prices slipped 0.6% this week following gains of 0.06% last week and 3.2% in the week ending Dec. 2. On Tuesday, gold at $1,825.50 an ounce marked its best settlement since June 24. The yellow metal is 1.6% 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, 20 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. Among the participants, nine analysts, or 45%, were bullish on gold in the near term. At the same time, five analysts, or 25%, were bearish for next week and six analysts, or 30%, saw prices trading sideways.
Meanwhile, 772 votes were cast in an online Main Street poll. Of these, 437 respondents, or 57%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 202, or 26%, said it would be lower, while 133 voters, or 17%, were neutral in the near term."
Elsewhere, silver for March delivery edged up 2.3 cents, or 0.1%, to close at $23.328 an ounce. Silver prices fell 1.6% this week following three straight weekly gains that had lifted prices by a combined $2.72, or 13%. On Wednesday, silver at $24.136 an ounce scored its highest finish since April 22.
In PGM prices on Friday and for the week:
-
January platinum fell $13.20, or 1.3%, to end at $1,000 an ounce, for a 3.5% weekly loss.
- Palladium for March delivery tumbled $107, or 5.9%, to end at $1,706.60 an ounce, for a 13.3% drop on the week.
The pair is divided on the year so far with platinum 3.5% higher and palladium 10.8% lower.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales last changed on Nov. 21. 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| December | July | August | September | October | November | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 59,500 | 47,500 | 47,500 | 59,500 | 6,000 | 846,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 140,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 0 | 575,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 39,500 | 22,500 | 44,500 | 39,500 | 4,500 | 410,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 833,000 | 1,258,000 | 1,407,000 | 15,904,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 |
More valuable than those NFT cards a certain former president sold yesterday.