We hope you had a wonderful holiday season.
The market was closed on Friday, December 24, but it was open on Friday, December 31.
Let’s briefly look at how the Thursday, December 23, metals compared to the previous Friday, December 17.
| Dec 17 Last | Dec 23 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,375.50 | $1,383.80 | 0.6% | $8.30 |
| Silver | $29.19 | $29.26 | 0.2% | $0.07 |
| Platinum | $1,697.00 | $1,730.00 | 1.9% | $33.00 |
| Palladium | $738.00 | $754.00 | 2.2% | $16.00 |
In all cases, the metals improved during the week before Christmas, not back to their recent highs, but as with any increase, we won’t complain.
Now, let’s look at how the metals fared after Christmas but before New Year’s.
First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Platinum is third:
Bringing up the rear is palladium:
Interesting. All four metals began the week with a steep upward climb that lessened between Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, all four metals fell back somewhat but began climbing upward again on Friday to end the week high.
Silver, platinum and palladium enjoyed new recent high values with gold just behind its most recently achieved high. But, platinum, on the other hand, needs to climb more to get above its five year high of $2252. The other metals repeatedly gain new ground – silver and gold above their 10 year highs and palladium above its five year high.
Let’s look at the highs and lows over the last 30 days along with the end of week close.
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Dec 31 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,426.00 | $1,363.00 | $1,421.60 | 4.4% |
| Silver | $30.91 | $28.36 | $30.91 | 8.2% |
| Platinum | $1,769.00 | $1,673.00 | $1,769.00 | 5.4% |
| Palladium | $800.00 | $707.00 | $800.00 | 11.6% |
As you see, gold ended the week not far behind its recent high value with the other three metals achieving new 30 day highs at the end of the week.
Now, let’s compare the closing values of December 31 to December 23:
| Dec 23 Last | Dec 31 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,383.80 | $1,421.60 | 2.7% | $37.80 |
| Silver | $29.26 | $30.91 | 5.6% | $1.65 |
| Platinum | $1,730.00 | $1,769.00 | 2.3% | $39.00 |
| Palladium | $754.00 | $800.00 | 6.1% | $46.00 |
Just look at silver and palladium, they both have significant percentage increases. Palladium at its higher value has both the largest percentage increase week over week and the highest dollar increase.
Palladium may be the red-headed-step-child of the four metals without the cachet and pizzazz of gold, silver and platinum, but palladium provides an intriguing performance. Then again, it’s surprising that palladium is not closer in value to platinum considering both metals are rare, found near each other and difficult to mine.
The metals’ performance over the next few weeks will continue their interesting ups and downs as the new Congress begins and the world economics and politics continue in turmoil.
Sit back, strap in and enjoy the ride.