Precious metals rallied Friday, lifting platinum to a win on the week and boosting weekly gains for gold, silver and palladium. Silver snapped a long streak of weekly losses that had cut prices by nearly 10%. Notably, gold moved back above $1,800 an ounce and ended the day near a four-week high.
Gold for December delivery advanced $24.30, or 1.4%, to close at $1,819.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Aug. 2.
Gold futures traded 2% higher this week following gains of 0.3% last week and 0.9% for the week ended Aug. 13. They are 4% lower 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 16 Wall Street analysts participated in Kitco News’ gold survey. Among the participants, nine, or 56%, called for gold prices to rise. At the same time, four analysts, or 25%, called for lower gold prices next week. Three analysts, or 19%, were neutral on gold in the near term.
Meanwhile, A total of 801 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 398 respondents, or 50%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 243, or 30%, said lower, while 180 voters, or 20%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for September delivery jumped 51.2 cents, or 2.2%, to finish at $24.062 an ounce. Silver futures traded 4.1% higher this week following three straight weekly losses that had reduced prices by a combined $2.44 or 9.5%. They are down 8.9% on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week
-
October platinum surged $31, or 3.2%, to end at $1,006.50 an ounce, for a 1.2% weekly gain.
- Palladium for December delivery — the new, most-active contract — tacked on $15.70, or 0.7%, to close at $2,408.10 an ounce. The metal rallied 5.8% on the week.
Both are lower on the year so far with platinum down 6.7% and palladium off 1.9%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
For a second week in a row, United States Mint bullion sales slowed (overall) for both gold and silver coins. In week-over-week comparisons:
-
Sales of American Gold Eagles rose 19,500 ounces after increasing 39,500 ounces last week.
-
Sales of American Buffalo gold coins increased 4,500 ounces after gaining 2,000 ounces last week.
-
Sales of American Silver Eagles climbed 775,000 ounces after rising 824,500 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.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | June | July | August | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 28,000 | 17,000 | 158,000 | 49,500 | 100,500 | 734,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 21,000 | 0 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 21,000 | 77,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 6,000 | 30,000 | 0 | 6,000 | 92,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 90,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 330,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 4,500 | 27,500 | 14,500 | 23,000 | 231,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 35,000 | 824,000 | 775,000 | 2,800,000 | 3,104,000 | 3,180,000 | 22,190,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
