This week, gold and silver climbed mountains while platinum and palladium tripped over rocks as they climbed hillsides.
Let’s review the charts.
First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Third is platinum:
Fourth and last is palladium:
Though July 4th is a holiday for Americans, the markets opened elsewhere in the world on Monday. In those markets, all four metals began their upward trek from the previous Friday’s closing low point.
Gold closed on Monday up on the world markets and continued to climb rather steeply most of the remainder of the week. Thursday’s market was the exception – it climbed but not as much as the other days. It’s interesting to note on the gold graphic that the London markets (AM = purple diamond, PM = blue square) did not reach the same levels as the New York market’s closing values (red line) on Tuesday through Friday.
Similarly, yet in patterns different from gold, silver climbed during the week. The smallest increase occurred on the world market during Monday’s holiday. At Tuesday’s New York market close, silver climbed sharply with an increase of roughly $1.50. Wednesday and Thursday saw more increases at roughly $0.50 each day. Friday’s silver market closed up again, but the increase was not as much as earlier in the week. Like gold, silver’s New York close (red line) was much higher than the London market (blue square) for Tuesday through Friday.
The other two metals did not fare as well this week, but they did increase. Platinum began the week with a small increase on Monday’s market. From there, a sawtooth effect occurs with Tuesday up, Wednesday down, Thursday up and Friday back down again. Oddly, though, the London market operated somewhat in reverse of the New York closing values. When the New York platinum close was down, the London values were higher, and when New York closed up, the London values were lower.
Like platinum, palladium went up and down during the week, but palladium’s percentage increased more than platinum’s during the week. On Monday’s market, palladium increased very slightly. Tuesday’s palladium market saw a sharp increase with a decline on Wednesday. Thursday’s market enjoyed an even larger increase but fell part of the way backwards by Friday’s close. Like platinum, palladium’s New York and London markets reversed between higher and lower for Tuesday through Friday.
The metals’ week’s performance was certainly interesting, but let’s take a look at the lows and highs for the past 30 days:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Jul 8 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,552.50 | $1,483.00 | $1,544.20 | 4.5% |
| Silver | $37.57 | $33.58 | $36.71 | 10.6% |
| Platinum | $1,842.00 | $1,674.00 | $1,735.00 | 9.1% |
| Palladium | $814.00 | $724.00 | $776.00 | 11.1% |
Silver and palladium with their smaller rates show the largest percentage differences between their highs and lows, but platinum is not far behind. The percentage differences indicate, to a certain degree, the volatility of the current metals’ markets.
Week-over-week all of the metals increased even with the stumbles by platinum and palladium.
| Jul 1 Last | Jul 8 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,486.50 | $1,544.20 | 3.9% | $57.70 |
| Silver | $33.85 | $36.71 | 8.4% | $2.86 |
| Platinum | $1,715.00 | $1,735.00 | 1.2% | $20.00 |
| Palladium | $757.00 | $776.00 | 2.5% | $19.00 |
For this week, gold wins the largest dollar increase while silver wins the biggest percentage increase when compared to the previous week’s closing numbers. Platinum and palladium almost tied with their dollar increases, but palladium has over twice the percentage increase of platinum.
The past week certainly offered excitement with its dramatic increases in gold and silver. Interestingly, some think silver’s Monday market will create another significant increase. Is that belief based on gut feeling, market indicators or discussions among a select few individuals? That’s a rhetorical question as they did not provide their reasoning.
Plus, what will happen with the debt discussions in Congress this weekend and how will they impact the stock market and the metals’ markets? Those are more rhetorical questions as the answers will be determined by the markets – domestic and global – as time progresses.
Regardless, with the past week’s metals’ performance, Monday will prove to be another interesting day to watch the metals activity on the New York and world markets.