Just wow!
Let’s look at the charts, gold first:
Next, there’s silver:
Here’s platinum:
Last is palladium:
Now, remember, these charts end on Thursday – that’s important as you look at the tables below and see the Friday market close numbers.
But, before we look at the tables, both gold and silver reached new highs this week. Platinum and palladium increased, but they haven’t reached new highs yet. Palladium is getting close. Platinum, on the other hand, has a long way to go.
In the first table, let’s look at the highs and lows for the last 30 days – again they’re through yesterday, 9/16. Take a look at the Friday market close numbers for platinum.
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Sep 17 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,275.50 | $1,218.00 | $1,274.70 | 4.5% |
| Silver | $20.80 | $17.88 | $20.77 | 14.0% |
| Platinum | $1,607.00 | $1,494.00 | $1,613.00 | 7.0% |
| Palladium | $554.00 | $474.00 | $541.00 | 14.4% |
Platinum continued its climb to end the week at an even higher number than the new high it achieved earlier in the week. Gold and silver reached new 10 year highs this week, but both fell back slightly just prior to the Friday close. Palladium grew this week but fell back slightly before the end of the market week.
The next table shows a comparison between last Friday’s close to this week in both percentages and dollars:
| Sep 10 Last | Sep 17 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,246.70 | $1,274.70 | 2.2% | $28.00 |
| Silver | $19.88 | $20.77 | 4.5% | $0.89 |
| Platinum | $1,540.00 | $1,613.00 | 4.7% | $73.00 |
| Palladium | $518.00 | $541.00 | 4.4% | $23.00 |
For grins, let’s look at the five year highs. The gold and silver highs are not only for five years but they are also the highs for ten years.
| 5 Yr High | |
| Gold | $1,275.50 |
| Silver | $20.80 |
| Platinum | $2,252.00 |
| Palladium | $579.00 |
Just look at those numbers. Some people claim that politics, such as the upsets during the primaries this week, impacted the metals’ performance this week. Others say that the weak economic announcements in Europe this week increased the interest, and therefore the prices, in the metals.
With the global nature of business and markets, many different variables influence precious metals.
Perhaps one coin dealer has the simplest and most accurate explanations for increases and decreases in the metals’ values. When asked why they increased, he responds, “There were more buyers than sellers.” Similarly for a decrease in market rates, he claims, “There were more sellers than buyers.”
Simple, but that’s the way it is. Regardless of the political or economic situations, domestically or around the globe, supply and demand drive market rates in a free market.
Keep alert, next week will be another exciting metals-watching week.