In precious metals action, all but silver declined on Friday, and they all fell on the week. Weekly losses were sizable for silver, platinum and palladium and small for gold.
Ending lower for a a fourth straight session, gold for December retreated $8.60, or 0.5%. to settle at $1,754.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was gold’s lowest since Nov. 10.
"Gold is proving to be impressively resilient despite a reality check from Federal Reserve officials on the prospect of any pivot away from the bank’s series of interest rate hikes," MarketWatch quoted Rupert Rowling, a market analyst at Kinesis Money.
Gold prices slipped 0.9% this week after gains of 5.5% last week and 1.9% in the week ending Nov. 4. As recently as Monday, gold at $1,776.90 an ounce scored its best settlement since Aug. 16. The yellow metal is 4.1% 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, 20 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. Among the participants, eight analysts, or 40%, called for gold prices to rise next week. At the same time, seven analysts, or 35%, were bearish on gold in the near term, and five analysts, or 25%, were neutral on prices.
Meanwhile,495 votes were cast in online Main Street polls. Of these, 221 respondents, or 45%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 177, or 36%, said it would be lower, while 97 voters, or 20%, were neutral in the near term."
Rising from a near two-week low, silver for December delivery rebounded a modest 2.2 cents, or 0.1%, to finish at $20.997 an ounce.
Silver prices fell 3.1% this week following four straight weekly gains that had lifted prices by a combined $3.60, or 19.9%. On Monday at $22.113 an ounce, silver marked its best close since June 2. The precious metal is 10.1% lower on the year to date.
In PGM prices on Friday and for the week:
-
January platinum shed $7.20, or 0.7%, to end at $984.30 an ounce, for a 5.2% weekly loss.
- Palladium for December delivery dropped $71.10, or 3.5%, to end at $1,938.90 an ounce, for a decline on the week of 4.3%.
Despite their hefty weekly declines, both metals are higher on the year so far with gains of 1.9% for platinum and 1.4% 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 |
Gold fell but silver rose (closed same as yesterday). Maybe Monday will be better.