Platinum was the standout metal this week, soaring nearly 4%, while silver and palladium posted weekly losses. Gold prices, meanwhile, declined from a five-week high and returned to below $1,800 an ounce, trimming their weekly gain.
On Friday, gold for December delivery gave back $15.70, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,791.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold had recently rallied on the thought that the Fed will shift from hawkish to dovish. But the jobs data shows the U.S. economy is strong, and this can prompt the Fed to be more aggressive, which is not a good story for gold," Reuters quoted Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities.
The U.S. created 528,000 jobs in July, the Labor Department reported Friday, far ahead of what economists expected.
Gold prices edged 0.5% higher this week after soaring 3.2% last week. The weekly increase was a third in a row after five straight weekly losses. On Thursday, gold closed at its best price since June 30. The yellow metal is 2.1% 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 the Kitco News gold survey. Among the participants, four analysts, or 24%, were bullish on gold in the near term. At the same time, seven analysts, or 41%, were bearish on gold. Six analysts, or 35%, cast neutral votes this week.
Meanwhile, 579 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 379 respondents, or 65%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 124, or 21%, said lower, while 76 voters, or 13%, were neutral in the near term."
Elsewhere, silver for September delivery shed 28 cents, or 1.4%, to finish at $19.842 an ounce. Silver prices fell 1.8% this week following gains of 8.5% last week and 0.1% in the week ending July 22. On Monday, silver at $20.362 an ounce scored its highest close since June 29. The precious metal is 15% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
October platinum slipped 20 cents, or 0.02%, to end at $924.70 an ounce, but logged a 3.9% weekly gain.
- Palladium for September delivery tacked on $51.20, or 2.5%, to end at $2,128.70 an ounce, but dipped 0.05% on the week. On Monday, palladium at $2,199.40 an ounce registered its highest finish since May 4.
The two remained divided on the year so far with platinum 4.3% lower and palladium 11.3% higher.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged this 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 / Week / August | May | June | July | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 164,500 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 685,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 71,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 130,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 50,000 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 525,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 56,000 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 299,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,350,000 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 11,556,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 79,000 |
Both Gold and Silver slid below their hoped for sustainable bottoms today, with Gold dropping under $1800 and Silver going back below $20 an ounce. I think it would be prudent to put any expectations of substantial upswings for either metal on hold for now.
Indeed, Sir Kaiser.
And Yoda, teach us that he will.
it’s quite striking, Major D, how many fewer of the Uncirculated Half Dollars than the Proof Half Dollars were sold across the board. I think it goes to show that while Proof Commemoratives are ordinarily more in demand initially, in the long run it is the Uncirculated versions whose relative scarcity seems to carry more promise of an increase in value.
Excellent points, Major D, especially the one regarding the fact that lower mintages by themselves are not the final determinant for current and/or future value of a proof versus an uncirculated ASE or Commemorative coin.
As to why the Commemorative Dollars don’t stack up as well compared to the ASEs in the hobby of coin collecting, I believe that is also determined by the relative interest levels in place. The ASE, being one of the prime stalwarts of global silver coin collecting, rather vastly overshadows any one year only issued Commemorative coin in the US Mint’s repertoire.
I’m sure you’re right, Major D, and by the way, I really like the look of that New Zealand Silver Turtle. I just remembered another popular silver coin, the Austrian Viennese Symphony piece. So, yes, there has indeed been a real branching out of favored silver coins all over the place; nothing like having an wide and interesting variety to choose from, that’s for sure!
It’s time for the Mint to get with the program of other nations and have a dinosaur series, colorized coins as well. Of course I jest. : P
I suppose I’m both old and old-fashioned, Antonio, but I’m still stuck with the notion that coins should only be the color of the metal they are made of.
I agree with you. Anything else is a novelty.
Well, Antonio, so far that makes two of us.
A more dramatic step would be to make them entirely virtual. You would receive one of the cheap Mint boxes and just imagine that there is a coin in it.