What a week for the metals! More record numbers for the highs even though they dropped slightly to close out the week at lower numbers.
Before we get into the charts and tables for this week’s performance, there’s an article titled, “Don’t Buy Gold Before Reading This.” The most interesting aspects of the article are his speculations as to why gold is climbing. In addition, he provides an interesting chart showing retail gold purchases versus gold ETFs.
As for his conclusions, well, they may or may not be right for you. Remember, when reading or listening to someone else’s opinion, you need to understand their frame of reference and motivations. After educating yourself, you can then decide if their advice fits your needs and circumstances.
In other words, be a skeptic until you do your own due diligence research.
Now, let’s look at this week’s charts. Unlike previous weeks’ charts, these do include Friday. Note that all four metals peaked on Thursday with a small drop back on Friday.
First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Platinum is third:
Fourth is palladium:
All four charts show a steady climb over the last four weeks. Sure, there are a few dips along the way, but think of mountains. The weather erodes the mountainsides causing dips for mountain climbers to traverse. Think of the profit takers as the weather eroding the metal values. Remember, too, many pundits predict the metal mountains will continue to rise over the next few weeks.
Let’s look at the tables.
First, let’s see how the metals ended the week and look at the lows and highs for the last 30 days.
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Oct 15 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,381.20 | $1,267.00 | $1,368.90 | 8.3% |
| Silver | $24.63 | $20.44 | $24.32 | 17.0% |
| Platinum | $1,723.00 | $1,584.50 | $1,690.00 | 8.0% |
| Palladium | $602.00 | $530.00 | $588.00 | 12.0% |
Just look at silver. It may have the lowest price among the four, but it gained the most percentage-wise (17%) between its high and low. Palladium at 12% follows not far behind.
Now, let’s compare this week’s end to the previous week.
| Oct 8 Last | Oct 15 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,347.00 | $1,368.90 | 1.6% | $21.90 |
| Silver | $23.22 | $24.32 | 4.7% | $1.10 |
| Platinum | $1,701.00 | $1,690.00 | -0.6% | -$11.00 |
| Palladium | $584.00 | $588.00 | 0.7% | $4.00 |
Once again, gold outdid its counterparts in the actual dollar increase over last week’s close, but again, silver had the biggest percentage increase. Conversely, after increasing to new recent highs this week, platinum dropped back to close lower than last week. Palladium dropped back, too, but not under last week’s close.
Obviously, the metals continue to be volatile, but with a decidedly upward trend. The next few weeks will prove to be even more interesting as the Feds determine the steps they want to take to address the economic woes and the mid-term elections draw nearer.