Precious metals declined on Friday, adding to their losses for the week. Gold and silver extended their streak of weekly drops to four and six, respectively, while also ending at their lowest prices of the year.
On Friday, gold for April delivery shed $9.70, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,817.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The finish was gold’s lowest settlement since it closed at $1,815.80 an ounce on Dec. 28.
"The evolving new narrative of more robust U.S. growth, payrolls, retail sales, and the additional Fed response required to tame the rude health of the U.S. economy sees investors catching up to the Fed ‘higher for longer,’ which has hurt gold," Stephen Innes, managing partner of SPI Asset Management, told MarketWatch.
On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department reported the personal consumption expenditures price index (PCI), which is the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, increased 5.4% in January from a year earlier compared to 5.3% previously.
Gold prices posted a 1.8% weekly slide, driving prices 0.5% into the red for the year to date. Gold has given back a combined $112.30, or 5.8%, through its four consecutive weekly losses. Before then, the yellow metal had scored six straight weekly wins in which prices advanced a combined $129.20, or 7.2%.
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, 13 analysts, or 65%, were bearish on gold in the near term. At the same time, two analysts, or 10%, were bullish for next week and five analysts, or 25%, saw prices trading sideways.
Meanwhile, 596 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 230 respondents, or 39%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 253, or 42%, said it would be lower, while 113 voters, or 19%, were neutral in the near term."
Elsewhere, silver for March delivery lost 49.6 cents, or 2.3%, to settle at $20.81 an ounce. The finish was silver’s lowest since it closed at $20.784 an ounce on Nov. 4.
Silver prices settled 4.2% lower for the week. The precious metal has retreated a combined $3.56, or 14.6%, through its six straight weekly losses. Silver is 13.4% lower on the year.
In PGM prices on Friday and for the week:
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April platinum fell $37.60, or 4%, to end at $907.90 an ounce, for a 1.5% weekly loss.
- Palladium for March delivery dropped $51.30, or 3.6%, to end at $1,377.30 an ounce, for a 7.7% weekly loss.
The two are down on the year so far with declines of 16.2% for platinum and 23.4% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published United States Mint bullion sales have not changed since Feb. 7. 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) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January Sales | Last Week | February | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 118,000 | 0 | 9,000 | 127,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 37,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 38,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 62,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 64,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 115,000 | 0 | 65,000 | 180,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 59,000 | 0 | 5,000 | 64,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 3,949,000 | 0 | 450,000 | 4,399,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
