Prices for precious metals dropped on Friday, contributing to their weekly losses, which reached double digits in percentage terms for platinum and palladium, and both also extended their daily losing streaks to five in a row. Silver hit a four-week low, and gold experienced its first weekly decline in five weeks, with its price also reaching a low of more than three weeks.
Gold for December delivery fell by $32.10, or 1.6%, to settle at $1,937.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since Oct. 17.
"Gold is an inmate within the confines of overhead resistance, and the door to freedom resides at $2,060," Adam Koos, president at Libertas Wealth Management Group, told MarketWatch. "Just when an exit plan seems near – when a break-out with parole seems promising – Jerome Powell came in like the warden on Thursday, saying that he’s unconvinced that monetary policy has been sufficient thus far, and that inflation could still warrant future rate hikes."
Gold prices lost 3.1% this week, following four weekly increases that had lifted prices by a combined $154, or 8.4%. Year-to-date, the yellow metal is 6.1% higher.
Looking to the week ahead, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street surveys:
"This week, 12 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. In a stark reversal from last week’s bullish sentiment, only three experts, or 25%, expected to see higher gold prices next week, while two-thirds, or 67%, predicted a drop in price. One expert, representing 8%, was neutral on gold for the coming week.
Meanwhile, 319 votes were cast in Kitco’s online polls, and though market participants were less optimistic than they were in last week’s survey, they remained bullish on balance. 183 retail investors, or 57%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 88, or 28%, expected it would be lower, while 48 respondents, or 15%, were neutral on the near-term prospects for the precious metal."
Falling for the first time in three days, silver for December sank by 62.4 cents, or 2.7%, ending at $22.281 an ounce. The settlement was the lowest since Oct. 12. Silver prices fell 4.3% this week after a 1.7% increase last week. They are 7.3% lower on the year to date.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
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January platinum declined by $17.20, or 2%, to finish at $845.60 an ounce, increasing its weekly loss to 10.5%.
- Palladium for December delivery fell by $30.30, or 3%, to $978.80 an ounce, bringing its loss for the week to 13.3%.
When evaluating their performance from the start of the year to the present, platinum has experienced a decrease of 21.9%, while palladium has suffered a more substantial decline of 45.6%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint bullion sales last changed on Tuesday, and those gains were the first for this month. Advances included 8,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 356,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles, and 3,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
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 | August | September | October | This Week / November | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 78,000 | 27,500 | 97,000 | 7,000 | 876,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 13,000 | 7,000 | 1,000 | 96,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 18,000 | 4,000 | 186,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 150,000 | 40,000 | 30,000 | 0 | 605,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 3,000 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 36,500 | 3,500 | 371,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 632,000 | 3,124,000 | 2,970,000 | 3,938,000 | 356,000 | 22,203,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
