On Friday, prices for precious metals took divergent paths, with gold and palladium showing gains, while silver and platinum experienced declines. For the week, only palladium exhibited a decline, and it was a minor one. Weekly gains in gold and silver marked their second consecutive rise, following a series of multiple weekly losses.
Gold for December delivery edged up by $1.20, or 0.06%, to settle at $1,967.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
This week, gold prices registered a gain of 1.4% following an increase of 1.2% last week. Preceding this positive momentum, there had been a stretch of four weeks with losses totaling 2.6%. Looking at the year-to-date performance, the value of the yellow metal has risen by 7.7%.
Gazing to the week ahead, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street surveys:
"This week, 11 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. Seven experts, or 64%, expected to see higher gold prices next week, while three analysts, or 27%, predicted a drop in price. Only one analyst, or 9%, was neutral on gold for the coming week.
Meanwhile, 534 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 360 respondents, or 67%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 101, or 19%, expected it would be lower, while 73 voters, or 14%, were neutral in the near term."
Experiencing its second consecutive decline, silver for December delivery retreated by 25 cents, or 1%, reaching a closing price of $24.562 an ounce. During Wednesday’s trading, silver achieved a notable settlement at $25.104 per ounce, which was its highest point since July 19.
Silver prices recorded a 1.4% weekly increase after surging 6.6% the previous week. Prior to that, they had experienced a five-week streak of losses amounting to $2.46, or 9.8%. Year to date, silver prices have risen by 2.2%.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
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October platinum shed $5.70, or 0.6%, to end at $968.70 an ounce, resulting in a weekly gain of 2.2%.
- Palladium for December delivery rose by $8.70, or 0.7%, to finish at $1,227.40 an ounce, reducing its weekly loss to just $1.70, or 0.1%.
Reviewing their performance since the beginning of the year, platinum has declined by 10.6%, whereas palladium has fallen by 31.7%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Monday, the U.S. Mint reported bullion sales gains of 79,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 603,000 ounces in American Silver 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 | Last Week | This Week | June | July | August | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 36,500 | 19,500 | 35,000 | 41,000 | 72,000 | 738,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 75,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 134,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 60,000 | 60,000 | 0 | 120,000 | 505,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,000 | 0 | 17,000 | 16,500 | 19,500 | 312,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 756,000 | 603,000 | 1,482,000 | 209,100,000 | 2,942,000 | 14,757,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,500 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
CoinNews will take a one-week break from publishing precious metals pricing articles.
