Gold, silver and platinum dropped together for a fifth straight session on Friday. Palladium also ended lower after rising on Thursday. All the metals plunged on the week. Gold’s and platinum’s weekly declines were their first in five weeks.
On Friday, gold for December delivery shed $8.30, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,762.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since July 27.
Gold fell 2.9% this week following four weekly gains that had lifted prices by a combined $111.90, or 6.6%. Gold prices are 3.6% 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:
"Kitco’s weekly gold survey results revealed that Wall Street is now bearish on gold prices next week. Out of 11 analysts participating in the survey, 55% expect prices to fall, 27% are neutral, and only 18% are calling for prices to move higher.
The Main Street side remained bullish for next week. Out of 709 retail participants, 46% projected higher prices, 35% called for a move lower, and 19% were neutral, Kitco’s survey showed."
Elsewhere, silver for September delivery gave back 39.5 cents, or 2%, to settle at $19.069 an ounce. Like for gold, the finish was silver’s weakest since July 27. Silver prices plunged 7.9% this week after rising 2.5% last week. They are 18.3% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
October platinum dropped $16.90, or 1.9%, to end at $888 an ounce, for a 7.4% weekly loss. The precious metal previously scored four consecutive weekly gains that had driven prices higher by a total of $128.50, or 15.5%.
- Palladium for September delivery lost $18, or 0.8%, to end at $2,131.40 an ounce, for a 4% weekly decline.
Both remained divided on the year so far with platinum 8.1% lower and palladium 11.5% higher.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Friday. 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 | May | June | July | August | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 21,000 | 6,000 | 164,500 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 27,000 | 712,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 1,000 | 72,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,000 | 0 | 50,000 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 540,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,500 | 4,500 | 56,000 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 11,000 | 310,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 408,000 | 17,000 | 1,350,000 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 425,000 | 11,981,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 80,000 |
