Precious metals declined on Friday after a stronger-than-anticipated U.S. jobs report. While all metals had been poised for weekly gains on Thursday, only gold managed to maintain its position, ending a two-week losing streak.
Gold for April delivery, after reaching a one-month high, experienced a decline, shedding $17.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $2,053.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, snapping a streak of four consecutive wins.
Gold held "on like a barnacle despite a whopper of an employment report,” Reuters quoted Tai Wong, a New York-based independent metals analyst.
“But we might need to wait a little and see if gold grinds much lower,” added Wong.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 353,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%, the Labor Department said on Friday. Expectations were around 180,000 to 185,000.
Gold prices recorded a 1.8% weekly gain, rebounding from a 0.6% drop the previous week and a 1.1% decline in the week ending January 19. On Thursday, the yellow metal settled at its highest price since Jan. 2. Year-to-date, gold is down 0.9%.
In other news, silver for March delivery fell by 44 cents, or 1.9%, closing at $22.796 an ounce. Silver prices declined 0.3% this week after a 0.7% rise last week, leaving them 5.4% lower for the year.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
-
April platinum declined by $20.70, or 2.2%, to end at $901.60 an ounce, resulting in a 2.1% weekly loss.
- Palladium for March delivery fell by $22.60, or 2.3%, ending at $949 an ounce, which led to a 1.3% decrease in prices for the week.
When assessing their performance in the first five weeks of the year, platinum has shown a 10.7% drop, while palladium has incurred a 14.5% loss.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2024
On Friday, published U.S. Mint bullion sales remained unchanged. On Thursday, the bureau adjusted its bullion sales for January, increasing American Gold Eagles by 3,500 ounces and American Gold Buffalos by 500 ounces.
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 | November | December | 2023 Sales | January | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 11,000 | 16,500 | 40,000 | 15,000 | 924,000 | 87,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 102,000 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 16,000 | 0 | 198,000 | 46,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 25,000 | 55,000 | 15,000 | 675,000 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 8,000 | 14,000 | 5,500 | 387,000 | 46,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 0 | 2,378,000 | 525,000 | 24,750,000 | 4,900,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 | 0 |
I wonder what % of those 4.9 million bullion ASE’s were purchased by Magic Mike? Also wonder what % will be returned after failing to grade perfect by the 4 ‘esteemed’ grading services. With so many coins these days grading perfect It seems to me they are slowly killing off the desire to own a ‘perfect’ coin. These days, the various coin hucksters don’t even talk much about the coin, no the real ‘rarity’ is with the grading label. This is my exclusive such and such label, which makes this item rarer than even the last rare item, which I… Read more »
EZZZZZZACTLY Craig on what seems to be the grading service, coin holder plus label and FOMO (from infomercials) generating price points. Why is the U.S. Mint encouraging this? Shouldn’t the Mint be encouraging a widespread enthusiasm of coin collecting? Especially since it seems the collector class is dwindling. None of my friends or colleagues collect coins or stamps. Put a bottle of bourbon in front of them and they’ll go berserk though!
Yes, odd no production figures being reported. Have checked Mint production figures on their website and latest we get is from 14JAN2024.
Chris, Well at least you know what gets your friends excitable! Bourbon does work wonders, doesn’t it. Lol
I don’t know. I recall the morgan and peace coins after almost a century of buildup released some pretty shi++y 67 and below. Tons of returns. But you can’t prove it as they don’t post numbers anymore. Maybe Harriet took the coin industry underground.
Dazed, you probably know I don’t bother having any of my coins graded, but I must say the Morgans/Peace dollars that I’ve received from the Mint all look exceptional, to me. I’m not saying they’re 70’s, as I can’t tell the difference from that and a 69 grade, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are. A 67 would be obvious as a flaw would be present. Just watched uncle Joe give a speech about this fabulous ‘border bill’ and you’ll never guess who he’s blaming for trying to stop it. ‘tRUMP is the devil’…sorry, the Waterboy movie was on… Read more »