On Friday, gold, silver, and palladium rebounded from multi-week lows, but they still registered weekly losses. Meanwhile, platinum ended down for a third straight session and marked another over two-week low.
Rising from its lowest settlement since July 11, gold for August delivery rose by $14.70, or 0.8%, ending at $1,960.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold prices declined this week by 0.3%, following gains of 0.1% last week and 1.7% in the week ending July 14. Year to date, they have increased by 7.4%.
Looking forward to the upcoming week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street surveys:
"This week, 14 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. In a tied vote, both bullish and neutral positions garnered five votes each, or 36%. At the same time, four analysts, or 28%, were bearish on gold for next week.
Meanwhile, 322 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 158 respondents, or 49%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 106, or 33%, said it would be lower, while 58 voters, or 18%, were neutral in the near term."
After hitting its lowest settlement on Thursday since July 12, silver for September advanced by 12.8 cents, or 0.5%, to close at $24.495 an ounce, trimming its weekly loss to 1.5% and bringing its increase on the year to 1.9%.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
-
October platinum shed $1.30, or 0.1%, to finish at $943.70 an ounce, for its weakest close since July 11. The metal declined 2.9% on the week.
- Rising from a settlement low that reached back to July 3, palladium for September delivery edged up by $3, or 0.2%, to end at $1,239.60 an ounce. Palladium registered a 3.7% weekly drop.
Reviewing their performance since the beginning of the year, platinum has fallen by 12.9%, and palladium has declined by 31.1%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Monday, the U.S. Mint reported bullion sales gains for only the second time this month. Since then, there have been no further reports of bullion sales.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | May | June | July | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 24,000 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 36,000 | 661,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 0 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 0 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 0 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 11,000 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 13,500 | 290,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 790,000 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 1,240,000 | 10,928,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 0 | 12,700 |
Kaiser,
While the Fed interest rates are at a 22-year high…
NumisdudeTX
Sir Kaiser-
Palladium certainly has industrial value as seen in automobile catalytic converters, along with platinum. It may be that, despite the Establishment’s insistence, many investors don’t see the “precious” metal value of Pd, as compared with gold, despite the “benchmark”. See Wikipedia’s article on Palladium.
On further reflection, another thought comes to mind: if the EPA and other elements in our current administration achieve their goal of largely removing internal combustion engines, the value of palladium might be substantially reduced, since most production goes into catalytic converters. Electric vehicles don’t require such items. The NHTSA proposed 43.5 mpg CAFE standards can only be reached, as EPA admits, by replacing roughly 2/3 of gas/diesel vehicles with EV’s. This is their stated goal by 2032. So who gets affected by a great reduction in world demand for Pd? 40% comes from South Africa (generally a friendly) and… Read more »
I heartily agree with your assessment of EV’s. The mining of Lithium for the batteries, as well as rare earth elements for control chips, causes horrific damage – but not much in places that most people see. The buyers of EV’s can soothe their conscience, thinking that they are “saving the planet”, when in fact, they are simply hiding the damage they do. BTW, the ability to repair EV’s is strikingly limited. Since the battery packs are generally NOT removable/replaceable, any damage in an accident that even cracks the battery case results in the insurer totalling the car. The fire… Read more »
Sam-I-Am & Kaiser, Per the EV topic: A few Hollywood celebrities recently have given up on their Tesla EV cars because they were stranded when one or more of the batteries blew up & the car had to be totaled as Sam mentioned. Also, if you are driving an EV in a remote area you could run out of power & there might not be a charging station nearby & you are stranded in the middle of nowhere! On the Pt & Pd topic: both metals are catalysts and do the same thing in an automobile catalytic converter, so the… Read more »
I think the EV’s would make more sense in high population urban cities where driving typically is of the short distance and parking would be on streets or in parking garages. I say this because of the possibility of the lithium batteries catching fire. I wouldn’t have one parked in my garage, which is part of my house. I don’t have to worry about my 4Runner or Corvette burning my house down and when I need fuel for either, it’s readily available and doesn’t take all day to fill. My time is much to valuable to spend hours waiting to… Read more »
One thing for sure, the metals will vary in value from each other. Silver versus gold: 8 to1 ,16 to1,35 to 1,125 to 1 (never say never I did “never” think it would be 125 to 1).Read predictions silver will exceed gold’s value “long term”). Silver versus Palladium 10 to 1, 17 to 1, 35 to 1 50 to1, In December 2000 209 to 1. Remember most Palladium from Russia. Most Platinum from South Africa. Japan prefers platinum. Buy what you like even if it’s the poor silver man’s gold i.e. copper.
Amen, Kaiser Wilhelm, AMEN! Too many people equate money with wealth. NOT the same at all. You have absolutely hit the spot on the very basics of wealth – goods and services (starting with “water, food and shelter). Money is only the medium we agree to use for trading these items with each other. It’s nice to have money; better still to have a full belly and a roof over one’s head!
Kaiser,
Agree except “air” is the top of my list.