On Friday, gold, silver, and palladium rebounded from multi-week lows, but they still registered weekly losses. Meanwhile, platinum ended down for a third straight session and marked another over two-week low.
Rising from its lowest settlement since July 11, gold for August delivery rose by $14.70, or 0.8%, ending at $1,960.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold prices declined this week by 0.3%, following gains of 0.1% last week and 1.7% in the week ending July 14. Year to date, they have increased by 7.4%.
Looking forward to the upcoming week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street surveys:
“This week, 14 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. In a tied vote, both bullish and neutral positions garnered five votes each, or 36%. At the same time, four analysts, or 28%, were bearish on gold for next week.
Meanwhile, 322 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 158 respondents, or 49%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 106, or 33%, said it would be lower, while 58 voters, or 18%, were neutral in the near term.”
After hitting its lowest settlement on Thursday since July 12, silver for September advanced by 12.8 cents, or 0.5%, to close at $24.495 an ounce, trimming its weekly loss to 1.5% and bringing its increase on the year to 1.9%.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
-
October platinum shed $1.30, or 0.1%, to finish at $943.70 an ounce, for its weakest close since July 11. The metal declined 2.9% on the week.
- Rising from a settlement low that reached back to July 3, palladium for September delivery edged up by $3, or 0.2%, to end at $1,239.60 an ounce. Palladium registered a 3.7% weekly drop.
Reviewing their performance since the beginning of the year, platinum has fallen by 12.9%, and palladium has declined by 31.1%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Monday, the U.S. Mint reported bullion sales gains for only the second time this month. Since then, there have been no further reports of bullion sales.
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 | May | June | July | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 24,000 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 36,000 | 661,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 0 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 0 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 0 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 11,000 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 13,500 | 290,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 790,000 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 1,240,000 | 10,928,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 0 | 12,700 |
Read More: Gold and Silver Trim Weekly Losses