Gold, silver and platinum scored sold gains on Friday while palladium tumbled, but all the metals notched weekly wins.
Gold for December delivery rose $19.50, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,656.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold prices edged 0.5% higher this week after falling 3.5% last week. They are 9.4% 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, 20 market professionals took part in Kitco News’ Wall Street survey. Eleven analysts, or 55%, said they were bearish on gold next week. Four analysts, or 20%, said they were bullish on gold and five analysts, or 25%, said they were neutral on the precious metal in the near term.
On the retail side, 473 respondents took part in online polls. A total of 180 voters, or 38%, called for gold to rise. Another 192, or 41%, predicted gold would fall. The remaining 101 voters, or 21%, called for a sideways market."
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery tacked on 37.7 cents, or 2%, to settle at $19.066 an ounce. Silver prices surged 5.5% this week after plummeting 10.8% last week. They are 18.4% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
January platinum added $18.80, or 2.1%, to end at $933.90 an ounce, for a 4.4% weekly gain.
- Palladium for December delivery dropped $74.10, or 3.6%, to end at $2,005.50 an ounce, but inched 0.4% higher on the week.
Both metals remained divided on the year so far with platinum down 3.3 % and palladium up 4.9%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
On Friday, the United States Mint published sales of American Eagle bullion coins for the first time this month. Increases included a combined 57,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 850,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
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 | June | July | August | September | October | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 54,500 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 47,500 | 47,500 | 54,500 | 835,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 1,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 74,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 2,000 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 140,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 15,000 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 575,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 11,000 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 22,500 | 44,500 | 32,500 | 398,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 850,000 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 833,000 | 850,000 | 14,089,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 |
I love the predictive precision of precious metal market analysts. Considering any particular metal’s value has only one of two directions to go, as in up or down, the operation of choice for making their forecasts must be the flipping of the coin.