Gold and silver climbed on Friday, but platinum and palladium declined. Gold’s gain on the day, supported by some safe-haven appeal — was just enough to give it a weekly win.
Rebounding from Thursday’s one-week low, gold for February delivery rose $8.10, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,784.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The "much higher-than-expected CPI release not only increases inflation concerns but also adds to concerns the Fed may have fallen behind in its fight against inflation," MarketWatch quoted Jeff Klearman, portfolio manager at GraniteShares, which offers the GraniteShares Gold Trust. "A too aggressive Fed, acting to combat inflation, may also detrimentally affect economic growth leading to falling stock (and other asset) prices, providing support to gold prices."
The Labor Department reported Friday that consumer prices increased 0.8% in November from 0.9% in October, while year-on-year inflation surged 6.8% — the most since June 1982.
Gold prices inched 90 cents, or 0.05%, higher this week after three straight weekly declines. They are 5.8% 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:
"The 13 participating analysts on the Wall Street side were largely split between higher gold prices and sideways price action next week, with 46% in each camp. The remaining 8% said that prices could decline.
The Main Street side was more decisively optimistic. Out of the 1,039 participating retail investors, 53.6% were bullish on prices next week, 23.9% were bearish, and 22.5% were neutral, Kitco’s survey showed."
Elsewhere, silver for March delivery added 18.2 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $22.195 an ounce. Silver futures traded 1.3% lower this week — their fourth straight weekly loss. On Thursday, they ended at their lowest price since Sept. 29. Silver prices are down 16% on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
January platinum declined $3.50, or 0.4%, to finish at $934.20 an ounce, but logged a 0.9% weekly gain.
- Palladium for March delivery dropped $63.40, 3.5%, to end at $1,749.80 an ounce, falling on the week by 3.5%.
Both are down on the year so far with declines of 13.4% for platinum and 28.7% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
Published United States Mint bullion sales increased this week by a combined 25,000 0ounces in American Gold Eagles and by 7,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
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 | This Week | October | November | December | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 24,500 | 135,500 | 125,500 | 26,500 | 1,101,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 0 | 94,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 22,000 | 10,000 | 2,000 | 162,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 85,000 | 40,000 | 0 | 490,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,000 | 41,000 | 39,500 | 8,000 | 348,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,076,000 | 1,523,500 | 0 | 28,275,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,700 | 0 | 8,700 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
Powell can’t even keep a straight face anymore while they fleece America
After receiving a Peace buck outside capsule, & flipping it around and loving it, I urge y’all to think deeper re coin collecting. 0 of all us mint products will send your kids to college, lol.