Precious metals scored sharp weekly gains even as half declined on Friday. Gold recorded another 11-week high.
On Friday, gold for December tacked on $15.70, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,769.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Aug. 25.
"We are seeing a follow-through in gold prices on yesterday’s CPI data, a weaker dollar and the likelihood that the Fed is going to do a half-point rate hike versus the 75-basis point hike," Reuters quoted Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
The U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose 0.4% for a second strategist month in October, resulting in year-over-year inflation of 7.7%.
Gold prices shot up 5.5% this week after gaining 1.9% last week. They are 3.2% 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, a total of 19 market professionals took part in Kitco News’ Wall Street survey. Twelve analysts, or 63%, said they were bullish on gold next week. Two analysts, or 11%, said they were bearish. Five analysts, or 26%, said they were neutral on the precious metal.
On the retail side, 905 respondents took part in online polls. A total of 588 voters, or 65%, called for gold to rise. Another 199, or 22%, predicted gold would fall, while the remaining 118 voters, or 13%, called for a sideways market."
After marking the best settlement since June 21, silver for December delivery shed 3.5 cents, or nearly 0.2%, to settle at $21.667 an ounce. Silver prices surged 4.3% this week following successive weekly gains of 8.6%, 0.4%, and 5.5%. They are 7.2% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
-
January platinum declined $16.90, or 1.6%, to end at $1,038.10 an ounce, but scored a 8.1% weekly gain.
- Palladium for December delivery advanced $72.30, or 3.7%, to end at $2,026.50 an ounce, for a 10.2% weekly gain.
Both metals are now higher on the year so far with increases of 7.4% for platinum and 6% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales have been unchanged for the month so far. 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 / November | June | July | August | September | October | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 47,500 | 47,500 | 59,500 | 840,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 75,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 140,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 575,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 22,500 | 44,500 | 39,500 | 405,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 833,000 | 1,258,000 | 14,497,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 |
I’ve got gold in my hand right now, I don’t feel it get heavier or lighter. Must a be concept.
I might look into that. 😉