Precious metals declined on Friday, padding losses on the week for silver, platinum and palladium while trimming the weekly increase for gold — its sixth straight.
Falling for a second session following five straight gains, gold for February delivery dipped 60 cents, or 0.03%, to settle at $1,929.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold has had a good run in the last few weeks benefitting from the downturn in the U.S. dollar," Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management, told MarketWatch.
Gold prices ticked 0.06% higher on the week, and they are ahead 5.7% for the year to date. On Wednesday, gold at $1,942.60 an ounce logged its best settlement since April 21.
In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street & Main Street surveys:
"This week, 19 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. Among the participants, ten analysts, or 53%, were bearish on gold in the near term. At the same time, three analysts, or 16%, were bullish for next week and six analysts, or 32%, saw prices trading sideways.
Meanwhile, 1,127 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 723 respondents, or 64%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 251, or 22%, said it would be lower, while 153 voters, or 14%, were neutral in the near term."
Elsewhere, silver for March delivery fell 39.8 cents, or 1.7%, to finish at $23.622 an ounce. Silver prices posted a 1.3% weekly decline after they lost 1.8% last week. They are 1.7% lower on the year.
In PGM prices on Friday and for the week:
-
April platinum shed $6.20, or 0.6%, to end at $1,016.80 an ounce, for a 3% weekly loss.
- Palladium for March delivery tumbled $64.10, or 3.9%, to end at $1,599.70 an ounce, for a 7.2% weekly drop.
The two are lower on the year so far with declines of 6.1% for platinum and 11% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published United States Mint bullion sales showed mixed results this week compared to last week. In week-over-week comparisons:
- American Gold Eagles: 3,500 ounces against 12,000 ounces
- American Gold Buffalos: 9,000 ounces compared to 500 ounces
- American Silver Eagles: 0 ounces against 500,000
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 | December | 2022 Sales | Last Week | This Week | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 850,000 | 11,000 | 3,500 | 104,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 | 1,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 575,000 | 0 | 0 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 0 | 410,000 | 500 | 9,000 | 53,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,407,000 | 59,000 | 15,963,500 | 500,000 | 0 | 3,949,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Palladium took another fairly big drop, further distancing it on the downside from gold.
Just occurred to me this is the “no read, no comment” zone. I’m talking to myself.
I hear you, Sir Kaiser! As a result of Palladium’s price decline, you can now purchase the 2022-W $25 Reverse Proof American Palladium Eagle from the Mint for $2,650, which is $400 less than the price of $3,050 that it originally sold for when it was released on September 29, 2022.
Well, at least I am ahead on the first couple of releases. I think these will eventually all be more valuable then their initial release prices, but we will see.
Speaking of which, Jeff Legan, I wonder if there will be a trickle down effect from all of those top flight coins being sold for previously unheard of prices.
Awesome, Good Sir Rich, and I will be genuinely happy for those who take advantage of this new deal (not to be confused with the New Deal). After all, $400 is not chickenfeed and might just tip the balance enough for someone to take the plunge.
I read, I just do not comment very often.
That’s good to hear, Jeff, as I thought this column was the desert of CoinNews.