Considering the New York market was closed today, this week’s charts are for the “Thursday Metals.” But, that’s okay. For a short week, the metals certainly performed. All four ended the four-day week with increases over last week’s closing numbers. Gold achieved an all-time high, and silver reached a 30-year high (and getting close to surpassing the highs of 1980). Platinum and palladium fell sharply, but ended the week up.
Let’s look at the charts. First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Third is platinum:
Last is palladium:
Beginning the week, gold stumbled early in the New York trading day, but by day’s end, the metal had increased by just under $10. Tuesday’s trading bounced within a few dollars of Monday’s closing value with gold ending the day $1.20 down. But, on Wednesday, the excitement began with gold breaking through the $1500 boundary for the first time. Once it broke through, gold dropped back under $1500 for only a short period in the early afternoon (eastern time). On Thursday, gold stayed above $1500 and closed at $1504.
Like gold, silver’s Monday morning started downward from the previous Friday’s close. By mid-morning, the metal had picked up dramatically only to fall backward again. But, by the end of the day, silver closed up $0.33 over Friday’s close. For the most part on Tuesday, silver’s trend kept moving upward throughout the day to end at $0.58 over Monday’s close. On Wednesday, silver continued a sharp climb with a deep dip in the early afternoon from which it almost recovered by the end of the day. Regardless, the Wednesday close was $1.27 above Tuesday’s. On the after-market, silver continued upward to begin Thursday at more than a dollar up. By the end of Thursday, silver closed at $1.38 above the previous day.
Extraordinary increases, just extraordinary.
Platinum started the week on a downward trend that kept going through Tuesday. The metal enjoyed a sharp spike upward on Wednesday and continued up again on Thursday to end the week at a new 30-day high (though still well below its five-year high).
Similarly, palladium started the week on a downward trend, but at a much sharper drop than platinum. Tuesday saw another downward close, but on Wednesday, palladium’s values increased and almost recovered the week’s losses. Thursday saw another slight increase to have the metal close above the previous Friday. But, palladium still has ground to recover to get back to recent high values.
Let’s look at the 30-day highs and lows for the metals:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Easter Apr 21 Last |
Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,507.00 | $1,414.00 | $1,504.70 | 6.2% |
| Silver | $46.61 | $35.95 | $46.61 | 22.9% |
| Platinum | $1,814.00 | $1,728.00 | $1,813.00 | 4.7% |
| Palladium | $798.00 | $731.00 | $768.00 | 8.4% |
Three of the four metals have new highs this week. Gold’s is an all-time high, silver’s is a 30-year high and platinum is starting to regain upward mobility. Take a look at silver’s low and high values for the 30-day period – over $10 difference between the two. Amazing.
Let’s look at how the metals fared from the end of the previous week to this week’s New York closing values:
| Apr 15 Last | Easter Apr 21 Last |
Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,486.40 | $1,504.70 | 1.2% | $18.30 |
| Silver | $43.05 | $46.61 | 8.3% | $3.56 |
| Platinum | $1,789.00 | $1,813.00 | 1.3% | $24.00 |
| Palladium | $765.00 | $768.00 | 0.4% | $3.00 |
This week platinum had the largest dollar gain, but once again, silver achieved the largest percentage increase.
If silver continues to perform like it did this week, one could easily get enthralled watching the metal’s performance. Will it continue upward? Will people take profit? Will there be a pull-back?
Some predict silver has a long way to go upward. Others caution there could be a $4-5 per ounce pull back in the near future.
Who knows for sure – no one, really. Each person needs to make their own buy/hold/sell decisions.