Palladium was the only precious metal to record price gains both on Friday and for the week. Silver, meanwhile, performed the poorest for the day and the week. As for gold, the yellow metal experienced its fifth consecutive decline on Friday, marking its eighth loss in nine sessions.
On the final trading day of the week, gold for December delivery dipped by $2.30, or 0.1%, closing at $1,946.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since July 27.
"Gold is continuing its slow slide toward $1,900 an ounce as doubts remain as to whether the Federal Reserve still has one more interest rate increase left in its current cycle, even following yesterday’s encouraging U.S. inflation data," MarketWatch quoted Rupert Rowling, a market analyst at Kinesis Money, in emailed commentary.
On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that consumer prices had risen by 0.2% in July, matching the prior increase. Meanwhile, annual inflation accelerated in July, reaching 3.2% from the previous 3%.
This week, gold prices recorded a decline of 1.5%, compounding the losses of the preceding two weeks, which saw decreases of 1.2% last week and 0.3% in the week concluding on July 28. Year to date, they have advanced by 6.6%.
Looking forward to the upcoming week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street surveys:
"This week, 13 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. In a perfectly balanced vote, both bullish and bearish positions garnered four votes each, or 31%. At the same time, five analysts, or 38%, were neutral on gold for the coming week.
Meanwhile, 573 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 320 respondents, or 56%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 155, or 27%, expected it would be lower, while 98 voters, or 17%, were neutral in the near term."
Falling for the fourth time in five sessions, silver for September gave back 7.8 cents, or 0.3%, settling at $22.743 an ounce. Silver prices tumbled 4.1% this week, bringing their four-week total loss to a combined $2.45, or 9.7%. For the year to date, the precious metal has dropped by 5.4%.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
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October platinum shed 20 cents, or 0.02%, to end at $914.60 an ounce, resulting in a weekly loss of 1.5%. On Tuesday, platinum at $892.70 an ounce registered its weakest close since Oct. 19, 2022.
- Up for a third day, palladium for September delivery rose by $3.60, or 0.3%, to end at $1,309.10 an ounce, boosting its weekly gain to 3.5%. On Tuesday, palladium at $1,218.10 an ounce marked its lowest finish since Jan. 3, 2019.
Reviewing their performance since the beginning of the year, platinum has declined by 15.5%, and palladium has dropped by 27.2%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint published bullion sales were unchanged on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Tuesday, the Mint published the first bullion additions for August. Gains included 823,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles and a combined 15,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | May | June | This Week / August | July | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 8,000 | 41,000 | 674,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 134,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 55,000 | 0 | 440,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 0 | 16,500 | 293,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 823,000 | 209,100,000 | 12,638,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
