Bullion & Business Weekend Recap – April 24, 2010

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Weekend Recap: Silver, Gold and Platinum Prices; Business Week News Gold and silver gained in New York on Friday, spurred by a falling dollar which ended a six day rally against the euro.

Gold typically moves opposite of the greenback and in the same direction as crude oil, which jumped above $85 a barrel as the trading week ended.

U.S. stocks rallied, lifted by an unexpected 27 percent jump in new home sales for March — the biggest increase since 1963. The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed with fresh 2010 highs. Major European indexes rose on Friday as well, but were mixed for the week.

In New York weekly precious metals prices, June gold gained $16.80, or 1.5 percent, to close at $1,153.70 an ounce. Silver for May delivery rallied 52 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $18.192 an ounce.

In other metals, July platinum advanced $46.40, or 2.7 percent to close at $1,741.70 an ounce and June palladium surged $31.35, or 5.9 percent, to $563.20 an ounce.

 

"There’s been some ups and downs but gold is on a very nice uptrend," Richard Ross, a technical analyst with Auerbach Grayson in New York, said via MarketWatch. "This ability to dust itself off is very bullish."

"Gold is inextricably connected to the currency story," Kevin Davitt, a senior market strategist at LaSalle Futures Group in Chicago, said on Bloomberg. "Gold is firming because the dollar is off its highs, and the euro has rebounded from its lows."

 

In weekly London bullion prices, gold was fixed to $1,139.50 an ounce, declining $12.00, or 1.0 percent. Silver fell 46 cents, or 2.5 percent to $17.890 an ounce.

Platinum settled at $1,725.00 an ounce, rising $17.00, or 1.0 percent while palladium jumped $23.00, or 4.3 percent to $555.00.

 

"If there is a (Greece) bailout, the euro will rise and gold will rise in dollars, and if the situation gets worse, we will see gold under pressure," VM Group analyst Matthew Turner, said via Reuters. "But in the medium term, this uncertainty is good for gold, even though it is bad for the euro. As there doesn’t seem to be a quick solution to the problem, it is something that will keep gold supported over the rest of the year."

"If you have $100 today, you buy that much less in terms of a basket of goods and services then you did ten years ago — paper money has already lost a lot of value and in my view it will continue to lose value," Marc Faber, editor and publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, said in an exclusive interview with Kitco News. "The price of gold will adjust on the upside according to the loss of the purchasing power of money."

 

To follow are silver, gold, platinum and palladium performance charts, oil news, week-ending stocks, and precious metal article summaries.

London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Palladium

(April 16 – 23)




The London Fix is one of the most used bullion quotes around the world. The London AM fix for gold and platinum begins at 10:30am GMT (5:30am in New York), and the PM fix begins at 3pm GMT (10am in New York). The London Fix for silver begins each business day at 12pm GMT (7am in New York).

London Fix Precious Metals Prices

(April 16 – 23)

 
Up
Down
Week % Change
Week $ Change
Friday Close
Silver
 
X
-2.5%
-$0.46
$17.890
Gold
 
X
-1.0%
-$12.00
$1,139.50
Platinum
X
 
1.0%
$17.00
$1,725.00
Palladium
X
 
4.3%
$23.00
$555.00

 

(April 9 – 16)

 
Up
Down
Week % Change
Week $ Change
Friday Close
Silver
X
 
0.1%
$0.01
$18.35
Gold
 
X
-0.1%
-$1.00
$1,151.50
Platinum
 
X
-0.6%
-$10.00
$1,708.00
Palladium
X
 
4.1%
$21.00
$532.00

 

(April 1 – 9)

 
Up
Down
Week % Change
Week $ Change
Friday Close
Silver
X
 
3.7%
$0.65
$18.34
Gold
X
 
2.6%
$29.00
$1,152.50
Platinum
X
 
3.5%
$58.00
$1,718.00
Palladium
X
 
4.1%
$20.00
$511.00

 

(March 26 – April 1)

 
Up
Down
Week % Change
Week $ Change
Friday Close
Silver
X
 
5.0%
$0.84
$17.69
Gold
X
 
2.5%
$27.00
$1,123.50
Platinum
X
 
4.0%
$64.00
$1,660.00

 

(March 19 – 26)

 
Up
Down
Week % Change
Week $ Change
Friday Close
Silver
 
X
-2.7%
-$0.46
$16.85
Gold
 
X
-0.8%
-$9.00
$1,096.50
Platinum
 
X
-1.3%
-$21.00
$1,596.00
*Week change numbers are for Friday PM-Friday PM (Unless a time is closed for holidays)

World Business Weekly News: Oil, Gasoline, and Stocks Prices

Oil prices jumped higher Friday, "overcoming initial see-sawing as investors focused on the rosier sides of the day’s round of economic indicators," wrote Claudia Assis and Kate Gibson of MarketWatch. The rise in the dollar was also cited in driving prices higher.

 

"The action of the dollar was enough to spur a rally in commodities," Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy, a Stamford, Connecticut-based procurement adviser, said on Bloomberg.

"Oil often looks to the dollar for direction. The durable goods orders, excluding transportation, and housing numbers were exciting, which is helping as well."

 

New York crude oil for June delivery ended at $85.12 a barrel, surging $1.42, or 1.7 percent for the day. The increase was enough to push oil to a weekly gain of 0.5 percent.

Prices at the pump remained unchanged between Friday and Saturday. The national average for regular unleaded gasoline is $2.851 a gallon, according to a AAA fuel report. The price is 1.3 cents lower than last week, 3.8 cents more than a month back, and 79.2 cents higher than a year ago.

U.S. stocks gained Friday "as the biggest jump in new U.S. home sales since 1963 fueled optimism the economic recovery is strengthening," wrote Michael P. Regan of Boomberg.

 

"Today it was about the new-home sales and the earnings, but we’ve also been seeing some real resilience in the market, with the Dow up for the longest winning streak in six years," Paul Brigandi, vice president of trading at Direxion Funds, said on CNNMoney.com.

 

For the week, the Dow advanced 1.7 percent, the S&P climbed 2.1 percent and the Nasdaq added 2.0 percent.

Friday closing figures for the three major US indexes follow:

  • The Dow gained 69.99 points to close at 11,204.28.

  • The S&P rose 8.61 points to finish at 1,217.28.

  • The NASDAQ added 11.08 points to 2,530.15.

And in other world markets:

  • The German DAX ended up 90.81 points to close at 6,259.53.

  • The Paris CAC 40 rose 26.65 points to close at 3,951.30.

  • The London FTSE 100 advanced 58.32 points to finish at 5,723.65.

For the week, the DAX climbed 1.3 percent, the CAC 40 fell 0.9 percent and the FTSE 100 retreated 0.4 percent.

Bullion and Business Articles

In related bullion, business and United States Mint news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

  • Greeks.Lawyers.Gold.Sex.Rhetoric. It’s ALL in Here. – Jon Nadler, Kitco Metals Inc.
    …In the broader market picture for gold, the fact that there is still no resolution in sight for the outcome of the upcoming UK General Election might make a difference as to which direction prices head towards. TheStreet.com reports that ‘a hung parliament could lead to increased economic uncertainty and lower confidence among savers." Such conditions would be conducive to favourable nods coming in gold’s way. Of course, we must not lose sight of the fact that the report featured on TheStreet came via a PR Newswire citing the opinion of online bullion dealers GoldMadeSimple.

    While not mentioning hard figures for the period, the World Gold Council said this morning that Indian gold demand preliminary reports ‘suggest a continuing improvement…supported by seasonal festivities." Also possibly helping matters for gold offtake in India, a stronger rupee (up 3.6% on the quarter) which made the yellow metal cheaper in local terms. The formal Q1 report by the WGC is not due until mid-May…

  • US Silver Eagles Near 11M, Presidential Sets Hit 23.9K
    2010 Boy Scouts Silver Dollars dazzled once again. Their weekly sales of 22,261 were only slightly behind the previous week’s 23,875. Total sales reached 312,653, leaving 37,347 left in Mint inventories. More than that amount were sold over the two prior weeks. Will a sell out now occur within two weeks? Instead of rehashing further numbers, read Tuesday’s CoinNews’ article on this subject entitled Boy Scouts Silver Dollars Nearing Sell Out.

    American Silver Bullion Eagles jumped 1,317,500 since the last Mint report, reaching 1,756,000 for March. They have hit 10,779,500 for the year and it appears that they will reach the 11+ million milestone before the end of the month. The 10.7 million figure is already enough to make the first four months of 2010 the best ever for the series.

In U.S. currency news, top officials from the U.S. Department of Treasury, the Secret Service and the Federal Reserve revealed the new $100 note design with enhanced security features. The bill will be released into circulation on February 10, 2011, following an educational period of 10 months.

Finally, in U.S. coin news, the first America the Beautiful Quarter was released into circulation on Monday, April 19. The 2010 Hot Springs quarter launched in a ceremonial release on the following day. The coin is the first of fifty-six in the America the Beautiful Quarters Program — a new series which honors national parks and national sites in each state, D.C. and U.S. territories until 2021.

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