The metals went up, and the metals went down with only one of the four ending the week up from the previous week’s ending values.
Let’s look.
First, there’s gold:
Second is silver:
Third is platinum:
Fourth is palladium:
Just look at those charts. Debt ceilings, budget arguments and economic crises around the world certainly played havoc with the metals this past week.
Gold started the week with a Monday closing value down from the previous Friday. Tuesday’s gold market saw a significant upswing with another slight increase on Wednesday. Thursday’s New York market closed down, but that small diamond at the top of the chart shows the London market at a healthy increase over Wednesday’s numbers. On Friday, New York’s gold market started back upward with both New York and London ending the week within a few dollars of each other.
Silver, on the other hand, had a much tougher week. Like gold, silver’s Monday numbers were down from the previous Friday. On Tuesday, silver values climbed significantly and continued upward on Wednesday. And though the London silver market continued up on Thursday, the New York market fell sharply losing all previous gains for the week. Friday’s silver market ended down even further.
Unlike gold and silver, platinum started the week with Monday’s closing values up from the previous Friday’s. Tuesday’s platinum market went up slightly before it fell and fell and fell. Wednesday’s fall lost most of the gains earlier in the week, but Thursday’s dramatic drop lost weeks of gains. On Friday, platinum continued down further with the London market even less than New York’s values.
Being different, palladium’s early week held fairly constant on the New York market even though London saw some early week increases. On Wednesday, palladium followed platinum’s example and dropped significantly. Again, like platinum, Thursday’s palladium market lost several weeks of gains. Friday saw another small drop with the New York and London palladium values within a few dollars of each other.
Let’s see how the 30-day highs and lows fared this week:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Aug 5 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,679.50 | $1,515.80 | $1,663.40 | 9.7% |
| Silver | $41.73 | $34.91 | $38.32 | 16.3% |
| Platinum | $1,814.00 | $1,700.00 | $1,716.00 | 6.3% |
| Palladium | $842.00 | $739.00 | $742.00 | 12.2% |
Both gold and silver had new highs and new lows this week. Gold achieved a new all-time high with its peak on the London market. Silver at its sharp peak on Wednesday briefly experienced a new recent high value. Their new low values increased due to the previous lows falling off the chart. Neither platinum nor palladium achieved new highs, but both of the metals ended the week with new lows on the London market.
Let’s look at week-over-week performance:
| Jul 29 Last | Aug 5 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,627.20 | $1,663.40 | 2.2% | $36.20 |
| Silver | $39.90 | $38.32 | -4.0% | -$1.58 |
| Platinum | $1,775.00 | $1,716.00 | -3.3% | -$59.00 |
| Palladium | $826.00 | $742.00 | -10.2% | -$84.00 |
Just ouch.
Gold, as the only metal to increase this week, won both the dollar and percentage increases. As for losses, palladium decreased the most in both percentage and dollar values.
What will happen next week?
With the US credit rating debacle announced late Friday, both the metals and the stock markets will be volatile as they react domestically and globally.
Which direction will the metals go? Some predict up, and some say down. In all likelihood, they will do both, but the overall trend of up or down remains to be seen.