Bullion Precious Metals Price Review Week Ending Friday 12-16-2011

A big OUCH this week for the precious metals. All four – gold, silver, platinum and palladium – fell dramatically losing between 6.3% and 9.2% of their value from end of week last week to end of week this Friday.

Let’s take a look at their graphics.

First, there’s gold:

Bullion Gold 30 Day Performance Graph for Week Ending 12-16-2011

Next is silver:

Bullion Silver 30 Day Performance Graph for Week Ending 12-16-2011

Third is platinum:

Bullion Platinum 30 Day Performance Graph for Week Ending 12-16-2011

Last is palladium:

Bullion Palladium 30 Day Performance Graph for Week Ending 12-16-2011

What a drop – though, the bullion metals did start upward by the end of the week.

All four metals began the week with significant drops in value. The fall continued through Wednesday for silver and palladium and through Thursday for gold and platinum.

Did people get scared of the markets?

Were there so many people cashing in for the winter holidays?

Has the world economic turmoil made people want to cash out of all markets?

Or, was it because the end of the week was the third weekend which meant options coming due?

Maybe it was a mixture of reasons, especially if people see the market going down. They tend to panic-sell and increase the problem.

Let’s take a look at the table for the 30-day highs and lows for the four precious metals – gold, silver, platinum and palladium.

  30 day high 30 day low Dec 16 Last Difference between
High and Low
Gold $1,773.00 $1,570.60 $1,599.20 11.4%
Silver $34.45 $28.80 $29.74 16.4%
Platinum $1,630.00 $1,398.00 $1,417.00 14.2%
Palladium $684.00 $563.00 $621.00 17.7%

 

Just look at those numbers. In 30 days, the metals have varying percentage differences between their lows and highs. But, the common element is they are all above 10% with silver and platinum above 15%. Those are wide swings in value.

With the dramatic drops in value this week, three of the precious metals – gold, silver and platinum – fell to new, recent low points.

Now, let’s take a look at the week-over-week performance from Friday to Friday closing values.

  Dec 9 Last Dec 16 Last Percent Change Dollar
Change
Gold $1,711.30 $1,599.20 -6.6% -$112.10
Silver $32.23 $29.74 -7.7% -$2.49
Platinum $1,513.00 $1,417.00 -6.3% -$96.00
Palladium $684.00 $621.00 -9.2% -$63.00

 

Perhaps not a win, per se, but platinum lost the least amount this week as far as percentages go.

Take a look at the numbers for each day this week:

  mon tues wed thu fri
gold $1,665.30 $1,630.90 $1,576.50 $1,570.60 $1,599.20
platinum $1,486.00 $1,472.00 $1,419.00 $1,403.00 $1,417.00
           
silver $31.29 $30.84 $28.96 $29.28 $29.74
palladium $658.00 $642.00 $615.00 $618.00 $621.00

 

During those dramatic changes in values, platinum moved closer to gold. At Friday’s close, gold was ahead of platinum by just over $182. In previous weeks, the difference was closer to $200 and above.

But, just a year ago, platinum’s bullion value was over gold’s by $321.50. That’s a swing of over $500 difference in the past year.

Now, what will the precious metals do this coming week?

Perhaps they will stabilize around the holiday season.

Stay tuned – the precious metals will continue to be interesting!