All precious metals, except for palladium, saw a decline in prices on Friday, while all metals except gold recorded weekly gains. Notably, gold experienced its first weekly loss in seven weeks, whereas silver extended its run of weekly gains to five consecutive weeks.
On Friday, the price of gold for June delivery dropped by $39.50, or 1.9%, and settled at $2,015.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. This fall came after the yellow metal had reached its highest price since August 6, 2020, on Thursday.
"The market is overbought short-term," MarketWatch quoted Peter Spina, president of GoldSeek.com. Still, "with prospects of rate hikes ending, inflation is not coming down to the 2% target, and an economy looking to enter into contraction phase, the stagflationary scenario looks to be coming into play," he said. "This is the most bullish of bullish scenarios for gold. Where real interest rates are negative and there are very few sectors seeing any growth."
Gold prices shed 0.5% this week, snapping a six straight weekly winning streak in which prices rose a combined $209.30 or 11.5%. Year-to-date, gold prices have risen 10.4%.
In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street & Main Street surveys:
"This week, 23 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. Among the participants, nine analysts, or 39%, were bullish on gold in the near term. At the same time, six analysts, or 26%, were bearish for next week, and eight analysts, or 35%, saw prices trading sideways.
Meanwhile, 1,347 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 930 respondents, or 68%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 278, or 20%, said it would be lower, while 156 voters, or 11%, were neutral in the near term."
Taking away virtually all its prior-day gain, silver for May delivery lost 46.5 cents, or 1.8%, to finish at $25.46 an ounce. On Thursday, silver settled at its highest point since April 18, 2022.
As for the week, silver advanced 1.5%, bringing its total increase over five consecutive weekly wins to $4.95 or 24.2%. Year-to-date, silver prices are up by 5.9%.
In other precious metals prices on Friday and for the week:
-
July platinum fell $11.50, or 1.1%, to close at $1,054 an ounce, trimming its weekly gain to 3.7%.
- Palladium for June delivery edged up 70 cents, or 0.05%, to end at $1,496.30 an ounce, lifting its weekly increase to 2.3%.
In terms of year-to-date performance, platinum has suffered a loss of 2.7%, while palladium has experienced a larger loss of 16.8%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint bullion sales of American Eagle and Buffalo gold coins surged this week, while those of American Eagle silver and platinum coins were muted. When comparing sales on a week-over-week basis:
- American Platinum Eagles: 0 ounces compared 500 ounces
- American Gold Eagles: 57,500 ounces against 26,500 ounces
- American Gold Buffalos: 25,500 ounces compared to 9,500 ounces
- American Silver Eagles: 0 ounces against 450,000 ounces
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | January Sales | February | March | April | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 53,500 | 56,500 | 118,000 | 41,500 | 211,000 | 74,500 | 445,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 54,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 62,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 94,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 115,000 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 240,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,500 | 25,500 | 59,000 | 19,500 | 73,000 | 35,000 | 186,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,949,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 450,000 | 6,199,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 7,500 | 500 | 8,000 |
I see 25,500 Buffalo gold coins of the bullion type were purchased last week. God Bless the rich!
The more that are sold, the lower their value will be in the future. It’s the low mintages that rule the day.
Antonio, I don’t think people that are buying bullion struck gold or silver coins are doing so based on rarity of numbers. They are loading up as a hedge against a devalued dollar (keep those printing presses running), high inflation, and lack of confidence in our Fed and Administration. It’s always been wise to hold about 5% of your wealth in hard assets. I’ve collected both silver and gold coins over the years, with most being silver due to cost .Now I have to wait until summer to be able to purchase the Morgan and Peace dollars. Since the government… Read more »
I paid $330 for the Proof 1/10th oz AGE coin just a couple weeks ago. It’s now selling, at least that’s what the mint is charging, for $335.00! And they claim you can’t get rich collecting coins!