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
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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:
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Sales of American Gold Eagles rose 19,500 ounces after increasing 39,500 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Buffalo gold coins increased 4,500 ounces after gaining 2,000 ounces last week.
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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 |
Well, I’m kinda surprised platinum is down more than palladium for the year. Coin flipping in my room forecasted the oppo. Fortunately, I can’t be blamed for getting paid for being wrong, or in the less likely scenario, being correct.
Kaiser,
In hindsight, I can see how my post may have caused confusion. I meant nothing more than my fortune telling prowess or lack thereof, has earned me bupkiss. & rightfully so. I have not lost my amateur status. Haa
Haha I got something funny to share, remember the 2019 high relief American gold liberty miraculously doubling in overall sales. On fox business they were selling them as Proof Like by our buddy Rick’s US coin show for a steal of a deal 2 payments of $1,997.5 the best part he is charging shipping and handling and taxes!