For some reason this one didn’t get published on Friday. It was still sitting in the “draft” box. Just odd…
And just what have we been saying about volatility?
In relation to prices and values, dictionary.com defines “volatile” as tending to fluctuate sharply and regularly, for example, volatile market conditions.
This week, all four metals certainly experienced “volatile market conditions.”
The metals dropped sharply on Tuesday, began an upward climb on Wednesday only to fall freely again on Thursday. But, at least, the Friday, 4:00 pm close in New York saw a small increase over Thursday’s close for three of the metals.
Interestingly, one of the four metals even showed a small, positive increase over last Friday’s close.
Let’s begin the charts with gold first:
Silver is second:
Next is the white metal, platinum:
Ending the charts is palladium:
Some claim that the market goes up like climbing stairs, but it goes down with the speed of an elevator. This week certainly saw the metals fall faster and further than the previous weeks’ climbs – even though the metals’ values were climbing rather rapidly.
Let’s look at the Friday close in comparison with the 30 day highs and lows:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Oct 22 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,381.20 | $1,275.00 | $1,327.90 | 7.7% |
| Silver | $24.63 | $20.76 | $23.29 | 15.7% |
| Platinum | $1,723.00 | $1,612.00 | $1,673.00 | 6.4% |
| Palladium | $602.00 | $530.00 | $589.00 | 12.0% |
There are significant differences between today’s close and the highs of the last 30 days. Now, let’s see how this Friday’s close fared against last Friday:
| Oct 15 Last | Oct 22 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,368.90 | $1,327.90 | -3.0% | -$41.00 |
| Silver | $24.32 | $23.29 | -4.2% | -$1.03 |
| Platinum | $1,690.00 | $1,673.00 | -1.0% | -$17.00 |
| Palladium | $588.00 | $589.00 | 0.2% | $1.00 |
Of the four, only palladium had an increase, and only a slight increase, over last Friday. Gold experienced the largest dollar drop and silver had the largest percentage drop versus last Friday.
But, except for platinum, today’s close is a small amount higher than Thursday’s values. (Note that the charts above end their diagrams on Thursday.)
Let’s compare the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday close values:
| Oct 20 | Oct 21 | Oct 22 | |
| Gold | $1,346.10 | $1,325.70 | $1,327.90 |
| Silver | $23.93 | $23.16 | $23.29 |
| Platinum | $1,683.00 | $1,674.00 | $1,673.00 |
| Palladium | $587.00 | $586.00 | $589.00 |
The changes in the world’s economy with foreign leaders taking drastic steps to curb their spending and reduce their debt impact the precious metals market. Too, domestic changes and economic announcements also drive the markets, both the stocks and the metals. And, let’s not forget the upcoming mid-term elections and their impact on people’s perception of the strength of our economy.
So many variables cause the fluctuations in the market, some explicable and others not.
Stay tuned to watch and be entertained by the metals and their market volatility.