Gold Declines 1.6% For Week

Precious metals declined Friday, broadening weekly losses for gold and silver while trimming gains on the week for platinum and palladium.

Gold for December delivery fell $12.20, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,488.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since Sept. 30.

"Optimism over the U.S.-China trade situation has fueled a stock market rally, which is the reason for gold underperforming in the last couple of days," Reuters quoted Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst with Forex.com.

"But I don’t see a massive sell-off in gold on the back of a trade deal if there is one, it would actually be positive in (the) long term. If China gets a deal, Chinese demand for gold should rise as it is the largest gold consumer in the world."

Gold futures traded 1.6% lower this week after rising 0.4% last week. They are 16.2% higher on the year. In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street & Main Street surveys:

"This week, 17 market professionals took part in the Wall Street survey. Five analysts or 29% said they see higher prices next week. Eight analysts, or 47%, predicted gold would fall. The remaining 4 voters, or 24%, saw a sideways market or else were neutral.

Meanwhile, 954 respondents took part in an online Main Street poll. A total of 566 voters, or 59%, called for gold to rise. Another 221, or 23%, predicted gold would fall. The remaining 167 voters, or 18%, saw a sideways market."

Silver for December delivery shed 5.8 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $17.544 an ounce. Silver futures finished 0.5% lower on the week, logging their third straight weekly decline. They dipped 0.2% last week and dropped 1.1% in the week ended Sept. 24. Silver has gained 12.9% on the year so far.

In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:

• January platinum lost $7.60, or 0.8%, to close at $900.30 an ounce, paring its weekly increase to 1.5%.

• Palladium for December delivery shed $5.80, or 0.4%, to end at $1,670.10 an ounce, paring its weekly gain to 1.7%. On Thursday, the precious metal scored a record settlement at $1,675.90 an ounce.

Both metals are higher on the year with gains of 12.5% for platinum and 39.5% for palladium.

London Precious Metals Prices

London precious metals prices ended lower on Friday and mixed on the week. In comparing their latest day-over-day PM prices:

• Gold declined $15.65, or 1.1%, to $1,479.15 an ounce.
• Silver slipped 15 cents, or 0.9%, to $17.60 an ounce.
• Platinum fell $3, or 0.3%, to $888 an ounce.

In LBMA weekly results, gold declined 1.3%, silver was nearly unchanged with a half cent loss, and platinum jumped 1.7%.

US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales

United States Mint bullion coins showed mixed performances this week from last with sales higher for gold coins and lower for silver coins. In week-over-week comparisons:

• Gold bullion sales moved up by 3,500 ounces this week after increasing by 2,500 ounces last week. For a third week in a row, American Gold Eagles accounted for all the sales.

• American Silver Eagles rose by 255,000 ounces after advancing by 565,000 ounces previously.

• Five-ounce America the Beautiful silver coins climbed by 13,000 units, or 65,000 ounces, following their gains last week of 42,200 units, or 211,000 ounces.

Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.