Gold and Silver Log First Weekly Losses in 10 Weeks

Precious metals prices declined on Friday and for the week. Weekly losses for gold and silver were their first in ten weeks.

Gold for December delivery on Friday dropped $20.60, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,949.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"The gold market had been in a parabolic state, so when you throw a little pickup in yields along with the impasse on the stimulus bill, it was going to see a bit of a retracement," Reuters quoted David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. "We might have gone a little too far, too fast, and we believe the market is in need of a pause, a consolidation. And that’s exactly what we are seeing."

Gold plunged 3.9% this week following nine straight weekly gains that had lifted prices by a combined $345, or 20.5%. As recently as a week ago Thursday, Aug. 6, gold marked a record settlement of $2,069.40 an ounce. The yellow metal is now 28% higher 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 13 Wall Street professionals taking part in the poll, eight, or 61.5%, called for gold prices to rise; another two, or 15.4%, estimated lower prices; and the last three, or 23.1%, projected neutral price action."

"A total of 2,407 votes were cast in an online Main Street poll. Of these, 1,439, or 59.8%, looked for gold to rise the next week; another 527, or 21.9%, expected lower prices, and the other 441 voters, or 18.3%, were neutral."

Meanwhile, silver for September delivery sank $1.63, or 5.9%, to close at $26.089 an ounce. Silver futures fell 5.3% this week following their nine consecutive weekly wins that had boosted prices by a combined $10.06, or 57.6%. On Monday, silver settled at $29.261 an ounce for its best finish since Feb. 19, 2013. The precious metal is 45.6% higher on the year.

In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:

• October platinum lost $23.90, or 2.4%, to end at $959.10 an ounce, for a 1.2% weekly decline.

• Palladium for September delivery moved down $73, or 3.3%, to close at $2,143.80 an ounce, for a 1.5% weekly loss.

The two are divided on the year so far with platinum 1.9% lower and palladium 12.3% higher.

London Precious Metals Prices (LBMA)

London precious metals prices were mixed on Friday and split on the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:

• Gold rose 50 cents, or 0.03%, to $1,944.75 an ounce.
• Silver added 45.5 cents, or 1.7%, to $26.705 an ounce.
• Platinum edged up $4, or 0.4%, to $952 an ounce.
• Palladium declined $44, or 2%, to $2,146 an ounce.

In LBMA weekly results, gold fell 4.3%, silver lost 5.7%, platinum gained 5.1% and palladium rose 0.9%.

US Mint Bullion Sales in 2020

United States Mint bullion products logged divided gains compared to a week ago with gold sales higher and silver sales lower. In week-over-week comparisons:

• Sales of American Gold Eagles jumped 41,000 ounces after increasing by 28,500 ounces last week.

• Sales of American Silver Eagles moved ahead 675,000 ounces after having increased 918,000 ounces last week.

• Sales of American Buffalo gold increased 12,000 ounces after they advanced by 6,500 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.