Prices of precious metals advanced during post-holiday trading on Friday, solidifying their second consecutive week of weekly gains. U.S. markets were closed on Thursday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and also ended early on Black Friday.
In milestone settlements, gold reached its highest price in nearly four weeks, while silver achieved its best price in about twelve weeks.
On Friday, gold for December delivery rose by $10.20, or 0.5%, to close at $2,003 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Oct. 30 when the yellow metal finished at $2,005.60 an ounce.
Gold prices posted a 0.9% weekly increase, after climbing by 2.4% last week. Year-to-date, the yellow metal is 9.7% higher. Looking to the week ahead, 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. Seven experts, or 54%, expected to see higher gold prices next week, while only two analysts, representing 15%, predicted a drop in price. Four experts, or 31%, were neutral on gold for the coming week.
Meanwhile, 672 votes were cast in Kitco’s online polls, and market participants were just as optimistic as they were in last week’s survey. 431 retail investors, or 64%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 156, or 23%, expected it would be lower, while 85 respondents, or 13%, were neutral on the near-term prospects for the precious metal."
Elsewhere, silver for December tacked on 65.3 cents, or 2.8%, ending at $24.341 an ounce. The settlement was the highest for silver since Sept. 1 when it closed at $24.562 an ounce. Silver prices recorded a 2.1% weekly gain, following their impressive 7.1% surge last week. They are up 1.3% year-to-date.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
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January platinum added $6.20, or 0.7%, to finish at $936.90 an ounce, padding its weekly increase to 3.9%.
- Palladium for December rose by $18.60, or 1.8%, to end at $1,075.20 an ounce, resulting in a 1.5% weekly gain.
When assessing their performance from the beginning of the year to the current date, platinum has shown a decline of 13.5%, whereas palladium has incurred a more significant loss of 40.2%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint bullion sales last changed on Thursday, Nov. 16, a week ago, and those gains were the second for this month. Advances included 18,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 1.083 million ounces in American Silver Eagles, and 6,500 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 / This Week | Last Week | August | September | October | November | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,500 | 78,000 | 27,500 | 97,000 | 22,500 | 891,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 13,000 | 7,000 | 4,000 | 99,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 18,000 | 10,000 | 192,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 45,000 | 150,000 | 40,000 | 30,000 | 45,000 | 650,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,500 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 36,500 | 10,000 | 377,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,083,000 | 3,124,000 | 2,970,000 | 3,938,000 | 1,439,000 | 23,286,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
