Gold futures increased their winning streaks on Friday to 11 straight sessions and 4 straight weeks. The yellow metal also closed at a fresh 16-week high.
Gold for February delivery on Friday inched up 70 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,322.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Sept. 15 when prices ended $1,325.20 an ounce.
Gold futures traded 1% higher this week, advancing a combined 5.9% through their four consecutive weekly gains. In looking ahead to next year, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their gold survey:
"Twenty market professionals took part in the Wall Street survey. Eleven, or 55%, called for gold to rise. There were five votes, or 25%, saying gold would fall, with the remaining four votes, or 20%, neutral or calling for a sideways market.
Meanwhile, 775 votes were cast in an online Main Street poll. A total of 477 voters, or 62%, looked for gold to climb in the next week. Another 217, or 28%, said lower, while 81, or 10%, were neutral."
Ending higher for an eighth session in a row, silver for March delivery added 1.6 cents, or about 0.1%, to settle at $17.285 an ounce. The close was the highest since Nov. 17 when prices settled at $17.373 an ounce. Silver futures moved ahead 0.8% this week after two prior weekly increases of 2.4% and 1.5%.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
April platinum gained $5, or 0.5%, to $975.20 an ounce, for a 3.9% weekly advance.
- Palladium for March delivery declined $12.55, or 1.2%, to $1,082.20 an ounce, but rose 2% on the week. On Thursday, palladium closed at an all-time high.
London Precious Metals Prices
London precious metals prices were mixed on Friday and higher on the week. In comparing final prices from Thursday to Friday:
- Gold rose $2.65, or 0.2%, to $1,317.15 an ounce.
- Silver added 2.5 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.155 an ounce.
- Platinum moved up $7, or 0.7%, to $966 an ounce.
- Palladium fell $5, or 0.5%, to $1,095 an ounce.
Their weekly gains reached 1.6% for gold, 1.7% for silver, 4.2% for platinum and 3.7% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
U.S. bullion sales were unchanged this week, according to the agency’s online data. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday / This Week | Last Week | December | 2017 Sales | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 0 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 38,000 | 228,500 | 0 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 37,000 | 0 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 64,000 | 0 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 25,000 | 395,000 | 0 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 14,000 | 99,500 | 0 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 742,000 | 18,065,500 | 0 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 | 0 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 |
| 2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 | 0 |
| 2017 George Rogers Clark 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32,400 | 0 |
