Precious metals split on Friday with gold and silver falling and platinum and palladium rising. Only palladium gained on the week, however.
Gold for December delivery lost $3.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,934.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold’s correlation with the dollar has been elevated, especially over the past couple of weeks and bullion is being weighed down by the bounce in the greenback following the solid (jobs) report, especially the unemployment rate," Reuters quoted Tai Wong, head of base and precious metals derivatives trading at BMO.
The U.S. economy added 1.4 million jobs in August and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.4% from 10.2%, for a fourth straight decline.
Gold prices declined 2.1% this week after sliding 1.4% last week. They are 27% 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:
"This week, 15 Wall Street professionals took part in the latest Kitco survey. Among the participants, four, or 27%, called for gold prices to rise; nine analysts, or 40%, said they expect to see lower prices and five voters, or 33% were neutral on the precious metal…
A total of 1,263 votes were cast in an online Main Street poll. Of these, 738 respondents, or 58%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 272, or 22%, said lower, while 253 voters, or 20%, were neutral."
Silver for December delivery lost 16.3 cents, or 0.6%, to close at $26.712 an ounce. Silver futures traded 3.9% lower this week following gains of 4% last week and 2.5% during the week ended Aug. 21. They are up 49.1% on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
October platinum settled up $8.60, or 1%, to $898.20 an ounce, but posted a 4.5% loss on the week.
- Palladium for December delivery gained $21.60, or 0.9%, to end at $2,343.20 an ounce, for a 5% weekly advance.
The two are divided on the year so far with platinum 8.1% lower and palladium 22.7% higher
London Precious Metals Prices (LBMA)
London precious metals prices ended mostly higher on Friday and divided for the week. In comparing their levels from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold declined $14.15, or 0.7%, to $1,926.30 an ounce.
- Silver fell 8.5 cents, or 0.3%, to $26.815 an ounce.
- Platinum shed $5, or 0.6%, to $903 an ounce.
- Palladium dropped $63, or 2.7%, to $2,290 an ounce.
In LBMA weekly results, prices for palladium rose 5.2% while they declined 1.6% for gold, 2% for silver, and 2.9% for platinum.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2020
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged for a second week in a row, according to available figures from the bureau’s website. 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 / This Week / Sept. | Last Week | June | July | August | 2020 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 42,500 | 107,500 | 86,000 | 521,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 51,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 76,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 | 30,000 | 240,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 7,500 | 30,000 | 22,500 | 178,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,398,000 | 1,084,500 | 2,593,000 | 16,294,000 |
| 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 |
