Precious metals declined Friday, paring their weekly gains. Gold’s loss was its first in six sessions, and follows a string of five straight record settlements.
Gold for December delivery shed $41.40, or 2%, to close at $2,028 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The dollar rebounded quite strongly after the jobs report. That clearly caused a sell-off across the board in the metals sector," Reuters quoted David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures.
"The thought process would be that with the slightly better than expected jobs number, the economy is slowly regaining its footing and, hypothetically, we would then see a lesser need for stimulus."
Gold futures traded 2.1% higher this week. They have advanced a combined a $345, or 20.5%, through their nine consecutive weekly gains. The yellow metal is ahead 33.2% on the year to date.
In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street & Main Street surveys:
"From a total of 17 Wall Street professionals taking part in the poll, seven, or 41%, called for gold prices to rise; another seven, or 41%, estimated lower prices; and the last three, or 18%, were projecting neutral price action.
Looking at the retail side, investors remained very bullish on gold with the survey participation rate reaching the highest level in nearly three years. A total of 2,430 votes were cast in an online Main Street poll. Of these, 1,670 respondents, or 69%, looked for gold to rise in the next week; another 433, or 18%, expected lower prices, and the other 327 voters, or 13%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for September delivery plunged 86 cents, or 3%, to settle at $27.54 an ounce. On Thursday, silver marked its highest close since March 27, 2013. Silver prices rallied 13.7% this week and they are 53.7% higher on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
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October platinum fell $43.50, or 4.3%, to $970.40 an ounce, but jumped 5.6% on the week.
- Palladium for September delivery lost $82.80, or 3.7%, to $2,176.60 an ounce, but posted a 1.5% weekly increase.
The two are divided on the year so far with platinum down 0.8% and palladium up 14%.
London Precious Metals Prices (LBMA)
London precious metals prices were mostly lower on Friday but higher on the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold declined $36, or 1.7%, to $2,031.15 an ounce.
- Silver rose 44.5 cents, or 1.6%, to $28.33 an ounce.
- Platinum fell $70, or 7.2%, to $906 an ounce.
- Palladium dropped $96, or 4.3%, to $2,126 an ounce.
In LBMA weekly results, the gains reached 3.4% for gold, 17.7% for silver, 0.1% for platinum, and 3% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2020
United States Mint bullion products registered divided gains compared to a week ago with silver sales higher and gold sales lower. In week-over-week comparisons:
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Sales of American Gold Eagles advanced 28,500 ounces after increasing by 38,000 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Silver Eagles moved ahead 918,000 ounces after having increased 461,000 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Buffalo gold increased 6,500 ounces after they advanced by 15,500 ounces last week.
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.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | June | July | This Week / August | 2020 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 37,000 | 42,500 | 107,500 | 28,500 | 463,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 0 | 45,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 0 | 64,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 35,000 | 0 | 210,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,500 | 7,500 | 30,000** | 6,500 | 162,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 461,000 | 1,398,000** | 1,084,500 | 918,000 | 14,619,000 |
| America Samoa 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Weir Farm 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Salt River Bay 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Marsh Billings 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 | 0 | 45,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56,500 |
**The U.S. Mint on Tuesday adjusted American Buffalo bullion sales in July to 30,000 ounces from 22,000 ounces and American Silver eagle bullion sales in June to 1,398,000 ounces from 1,378,000 ounces.
