Precious metals gained on Friday, albeit by a small margin for gold and silver. While silver and platinum finished the week nearly unchanged, gold and palladium experienced significant declines. Gold’s weekly loss was its fourth in a row.
Rising for the first time in ten sessions and from a five-month low, gold for December delivery edged up by $1.30, or 0.07%, to settle at $1,916.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold may continue to struggle attracting demand from investors until something breaks, either through a credit event, a weaker dollar, or the belief the FOMC has switched its focus towards cutting rates," Reuters quoted Saxo Bank’s head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen.
This week, gold prices recorded a decline of 1.6%, compounding the losses of the preceding three weeks, which saw decreases of 1.5% last week, 1.2% in the week ending week Aug 4, and 0.3% in the week concluding on July 28. On Thursday, gold marked its lowest settlement price since March 14. Year to date, the yellow metal has advanced by 5%.
Looking forward to the upcoming week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street surveys:
"This week, 16 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. Among the participants, ten analysts, or 63%, were bearish on gold in the near term. At the same time, two analysts, or 13%, were bullish for next week, and four analysts, or 25%, saw prices trading sideways.
Meanwhile, 941 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 415 respondents, or 44%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 386, or 41%, said it would be lower, while 140 voters, or 15%, were neutral in the near term."
Up for a second day following four straight losses, silver for September rose by 1.8 cents, equivalent to 0.08%, and ended at $22.733 an ounce. Silver edged lower this week by just a penny, bringing its five-week total loss to a combined $2.46, or 9.8%. For the year to date, the precious metal has dropped by 5.4%.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
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October platinum increased by $19.40, or 2.2%, to end at $915 an ounce, resulting in a modest weekly gain of 40 cents. On Wednesday, platinum at $891.30 an ounce logged its lowest settlement since Oct. 19, 2022.
- Palladium for September delivery surged $39.50, or 3.2%, to close at $1,260 an ounce, but still sank 3.8% on the week. On Wednesday, platinum at $1,212.40 an ounce posted its lowest ending price since Jan. 3, 2019.
Reviewing their performance since the beginning of the year, platinum has declined by 15.5%, and palladium has fallen by 29.9%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales figures remained unchanged on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Monday, and for only the second time this month, the Mint reported gains of 760,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles, 11,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and a combined total of 8,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles.
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 | June | July | August | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 35,000 | 41,000 | 16,000 | 682,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 75,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 134,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 55,000 | 5,000 | 60,000 | 0 | 60,000 | 445,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 11,500 | 17,000 | 16,500 | 11,500 | 304,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 823,000 | 760,000 | 1,482,000 | 209,100,000 | 1,583,000 | 13,398,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,500 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
Is there a pinball wizard of oz
One of Elton John’s better tunes, in my opinion.
I liked the song as played by Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who. Back when it was fun to attend a raucous concert. Kids today don’t know what they’re missing!
Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie
You wanted the best, you got the best
You shook me all night long
Living it up at the hotel commie for ya
Gimme 3 votes gimme 3 votes mister
I crane you crane we all crane for Ukraine
You ain’t nothing but a snowflake, melting all the time
So was Henry Cavil. Who was also superman and…. and a Witcher