Precious metals retreated together for a second straight session Friday but most of them still scored weekly gains, led in performance by silver and then gold.
Gold for February delivery shed $4.90, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,816.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold prices advanced 1.1% this week after falling 1.7% last week. On Wednesday, they ended at their highest price since Dec. 31. They are 0.7% 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 analysts, or 58%, called for gold prices to rise next week. At the same time, three analysts, or 19%, were bearish on gold in the near term, and four analysts or 25% were neutral on prices.
Meanwhile, a total of 928 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 529 respondents, or 57%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 225, or 24%, said lower, while 174voters, or 19%, were neutral."
Elsewhere, silver for March delivery lost 24.4 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $22.918 an ounce. Silver prices jumped 2.3% this week after sinking 4% last week. Like for gold, silver on Wednesday finished at its best price since Dec. 31. The precious metal has declined 1.9% this year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the second trading week of 2022:
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April platinum fell $7.60, or 0.8%, to end at $964.60 an ounce, but posted a 0.9% weekly gain.
- Palladium for March delivery fell $11.80, or 0.6%, to end at $1,878.20 an ounce, for a 2.3% drop on the week.
Both are down on the year so far with losses of 0.2% for platinum and 1.8% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
United States Mint bullion sales slowed this week from the surging gains last week when the newly 2022-dated coins launched. In week-over-week comparisons:
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Sales of American Gold Eagles rose 30,000 ounces after advancing 107,500 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Buffalo gold coins increased 7,000 ounces after climbing 35,000 ounces last week.
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Sales of American Silver Eagles rose 500,000 ounces after rising 3,001,000 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 | December | 2021 Sales | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 73,500 | 14,000 | 41,000 | 1,115,500 | 87,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 26,000 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 95,000 | 44,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 38,000 | 14,000 | 2,000 | 162,000 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 115,000 | 35,000 | 0 | 490,000 | 150,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 35,000 | 7,000 | 10,500 | 350,500 | 42,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 3,001,000 | 500,000 | 0 | 28,275,000 | 3,501,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 | 0 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,700 | 0 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 | 0 |
