The Friday Metals
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It’s Friday again. Let’s take a look at the metals this week.
First, there’s gold:
Next comes silver:
Then, there’s platinum:
Palladium finishes the list:
Gold dropped slightly on Monday went back up on Tuesday and encountered another drop on Wednesday. On Thursday, gold rose to a 30-day high (but not the highest for the year – yet) with a small drop backwards for the Friday Wall Street close at 4:00.
Silver followed a similar path with a slight drop on Monday, an increase on Tuesday and another drop on Wednesday. Like gold, silver went back up on Thursday, however if you look at the close numbers for today, unlike gold, silver continued its rise.
Whereas gold has been climbing, for the most part, for the last 30 days, platinum has seen more volatile peaks and valleys. Platinum started the week lower than last Friday and continued downward for Tuesday. But, unlike gold and silver, platinum increased on Wednesday and further increased on Thursday. Today’s close numbers follow that upward trend. But, platinum has yet to grow past its 30 day peak value.
Very much like platinum’s performance, palladium started the week down from last Friday. On Tuesday, palladium began its growth at a much steeper rate of ascent. Plus, palladium achieved a new 30 day peak, though it is not the highest for the year (again, yet).
Remember, the charts end on Thursday. Let’s look at today’s close figures along with the 30 day highs and lows:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Sep 3 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,251.30 | $1,184.00 | $1,246.60 | 5.4% |
| Silver | $19.65 | $17.88 | $19.85 | 9.0% |
| Platinum | $1,590.00 | $1,494.00 | $1,551.00 | 6.0% |
| Palladium | $522.00 | $464.00 | $528.00 | 11.1% |
As the table shows, both silver and palladium gained new 30 day highs with their Friday performances.
Now, let’s look at the metals’ performance against the figures for last Friday:
| Aug 27 Last | Sep 3 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,238.10 | $1,246.60 | 0.7% | $8.50 |
| Silver | $19.11 | $19.85 | 3.9% | $0.74 |
| Platinum | $1,531.00 | $1,551.00 | 1.3% | $20.00 |
| Palladium | $503.00 | $528.00 | 5.0% | $25.00 |
Every metal grew this week with palladium having the biggest growth in both percentage and absolute dollars.
As the November elections draw nearer and as the economy meets its challenges, the metals will continue their volatile entertainment.
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The Friday Metals
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Let’s see, this week’s news included existing home sales down 27%, new home sales down 12% and the economic growth for second quarter down to 1.6%. Earlier it was projected to be 2.4%, but at 1.6%, that’s more than a two percent drop from the first quarter’s 3.7% economy.
With the bad economic news, how did the metals fare this week? Well, they did some climbing.
First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Then, there’s platinum:
Last is palladium:
Interesting. For most of the metals, Monday dropped to a low point from Friday, and their values climbed from there. Palladium performed differently in that it grew on Monday to higher than its Friday values.
Both silver and palladium had the steepest growth spurts for the week.
Let’s look at the performance numbers.
First, the 30 day low and high values in comparison to the Friday close figures:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Aug 27 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,240.25 | $1,157.00 | $1,238.10 | 6.7% |
| Silver | $19.11 | $17.47 | $19.11 | 8.6% |
| Platinum | $1,597.00 | $1,494.00 | $1,531.00 | 6.4% |
| Palladium | $514.00 | $464.00 | $503.00 | 9.7% |
Next, let’s take a look at this Friday’s end-of-week numbers in comparison to a week ago:
| Aug 20 Last | Aug 27 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,228.00 | $1,238.10 | 0.8% | $10.10 |
| Silver | $18.02 | $19.11 | 6.0% | $1.09 |
| Platinum | $1,508.00 | $1,531.00 | 1.5% | $23.00 |
| Palladium | $474.00 | $503.00 | 6.1% | $29.00 |
The metals continue to be interesting to follow along with the economic and political news of the day. Some pundits think the metals will continue to climb from here with a few dips along the way but with continued growth being dominant.
Yes, history does prove that tough political and economic times make the metals increase. But, circumstances are never exactly the same as history. Today’s politics and economics are more on a global scale than in past times. Plus, the internet does play a large role in business and politics as well.
Whose crystal ball is correct about the metals’ future performance? Only time will tell whose “guess” is right.
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The Friday Metals
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This week, the metals show some hill climbing, some peaks and valleys, but perhaps more interesting is how the charts vary from metal to metal. In short, the metals’ charts do not follow consistent patterns.
First, there’s gold doing some climbing:
Silver is next with a short climb then a drop back:
Then, platinum goes up and down, too:
Palladium ends the list with another climb and a drop:
Generally, the platinum and palladium charts follow the same path just at different numbers. Looking at the charts above, their 30-day performance paths differ more than their usual patterns. The platinum chart includes more dramatic spikes and decreases as compared to palladium
In reviewing last Friday to this Friday, once again gold increased over the last week’s close where the other metals show slight decreases. For silver, platinum and palladium, increases occurred during the week with peaks on Tuesday for silver and platinum and Wednesday for palladium, but they dropped back below their last week’s numbers at the end of the week.
Gold, on the other hand, chose to climb during the week with only a slight drop at Friday’s close from Thursday’s performance.
The 30 day high and lows were:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Aug 20 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,233.50 | $1,157.00 | $1,228.00 | 6.2% |
| Silver | $18.54 | $17.47 | $18.02 | 5.8% |
| Platinum | $1,597.00 | $1,502.00 | $1,508.00 | 5.9% |
| Palladium | $514.00 | $438.00 | $474.00 | 14.8% |
Plus, here are the Friday close number comparisons:
| Aug 13 Last | Aug 20 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,215.40 | $1,228.00 | 1.0% | $12.60 |
| Silver | $18.14 | $18.02 | -0.7% | -$0.12 |
| Platinum | $1,521.00 | $1,508.00 | -0.9% | -$13.00 |
| Palladium | $476.00 | $474.00 | -0.4% | -$2.00 |
Gold continues to be volatile and interesting from week to week. As such, TheStreet.com offers advice about gold in their article: Buying Gold: Avoid These Three Mistakes. They claim, “The gold market is ripe with peer-pressure buying. When gold makes a big double-digit move up or down, panicked retail investors can be tempted to either jump into the market for fear of missing the rally or to sell their positions because they don’t want to be stuck owning ‘cheap’ gold.” In summary, they state, “The three money-losing mistakes many investors make are overpaying for bullion, picking bad stocks, and buying ETFs for the wrong reasons.” Further, they provide advice on how to avoid the main mistakes.
Enjoy the entertainment of following the metals’ individual performances. If you want to invest in any of the metals, perform your due diligence research to make the best choice for your situation.
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The Friday Metals
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Another week of ups and downs for the metals. Let’s look at the graphs.
First, there’s gold:
Next, silver:
Then, there’s the expensive, white metal, platinum:
The last is palladium:
This week, platinum and palladium dropped rather significantly on Monday, further on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. Both metals started upward on Thursday and held their own on Friday’s close. Both platinum and palladium ended the week at a lower number than last week.
Similarly, silver dropped on Monday but not as dramatically. It continued with a slight fall on Tuesday and a dramatic drop on Wednesday. On Thursday, silver began going back upward and held on to the increase at Friday’s close. However, it is still less than last Friday.
Gold performed differently this week. It dropped on Monday went back up on Tuesday then dropped again on Wednesday. Like the other metals, gold increased on Thursday, but unlike the other metals, gold finished higher than last Friday. Look at today’s close, it is within 60 cents of its 30 day high.
Here are the numbers. First, let’s look at the low and high values for the last 30 days’ performance and today’s close:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Aug 13 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,216.00 | $1,157.00 | $1,215.40 | 4.9% |
| Silver | $18.50 | $17.47 | $18.14 | 5.6% |
| Platinum | $1,597.00 | $1,499.00 | $1,521.00 | 6.1% |
| Palladium | $514.00 | $438.00 | $476.00 | 14.8% |
Next, here are the comparison numbers to last Friday’s close:
| Aug 6 Last | Aug 13 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,205.70 | $1,215.40 | 0.8% | $9.70 |
| Silver | $18.46 | $18.14 | -1.7% | -$0.32 |
| Platinum | $1,571.00 | $1,521.00 | -3.2% | -$50.00 |
| Palladium | $489.00 | $476.00 | -2.7% | -$13.00 |
Once again, the pundits have many predictions. Some are positive gold will reach $1300 soon. Others claim gold will drop.
Who really knows? We’ll continue to be entertained with the weekly results.
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The Friday Metals
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It’s Friday after 5:00 pm in the New York (Eastern) time zone and time to look at the metals’ close prices for the week along with their overall performance for the month and compared to last Friday.
First, there’s gold:
Next comes silver:
Now, there’s platinum:
Last, there’s palladium:
What interesting variations from chart to chart. Silver has encountered a very bumpy ride for the last 30 days. Gold’s ups and downs are also frequent if not quite as dramatic. Whereas, platinum and palladium have been mountain climbing with a few dips along the way.
Let’s look at the highs and lows over the last 30 days:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Aug 6 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,216.00 | $1,157.00 | $1,205.70 | 4.9% |
| Silver | $18.50 | $17.47 | $18.46 | 5.6% |
| Platinum | $1,597.00 | $1,499.00 | $1,571.00 | 6.1% |
| Palladium | $514.00 | $432.00 | $489.00 | 16.0% |
Next, take a look at today’s close prices on the New York market compared to last Friday’s:
| Jul 30 Last | Aug 6 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,181.40 | $1,205.70 | 2.1% | $24.30 |
| Silver | $17.97 | $18.46 | 2.7% | $0.49 |
| Platinum | $1,569.00 | $1,571.00 | 0.1% | $2.00 |
| Palladium | $496.00 | $489.00 | -1.4% | -$7.00 |
Look at platinum. At $1597 on Monday, it came close to kissing the $1600 mark – a new 30 day high. Though, it has quite a distance to travel to get back to the high in May of $1752.
Palladium also started off the week on a high note at $514. It’s earlier high in May was at $571.
Using the Friday close, the actual dollars to get back to their highs are $181 for platinum and $81 for palladium. But, in looking at percentages of the total, platinum has roughly 12% and palladium has roughly 17% to get back to the earlier highs.
What about the more volatile gold and silver metals?
Here’s another area where they differ. Silver had a high of $19.64 back in April/May period. But, gold enjoyed its high of $1261 in late June/early July.
Using today’s close prices, gold has roughly $55 or 5% to get back to its recent high. On the other hand, silver has to gain $1.18 or roughly 6% to get back to the $19.64 peak.
The metals and their peaks and valleys continue to be a source of entertainment along with the various pundits’ comments of why the increase or the decrease in the various metals. They also entertain us with their various predictions which tend to be all across the board. Plus, it’s interesting when the metals perform counter to what the pundits expect.
We’ll take another look at the metals next Friday.
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The Friday Metals
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Here we go again…another volatile week.
First, there’s gold:
Next, let’s look at silver:
Then, there’s the rare and expensive platinum:
Last, there’s the also rare but not as expensive palladium:
Before proceeding, note that the charts end on Thursday. That will be important when you see the performance of platinum and palladium today, Friday.
These charts are very interesting. With the exception of silver, all of the metals saw their lowest point on Tuesday. Silver fell a little further on Wednesday before pulling back into a positive direction.
But, perhaps more interesting is looking at the overall trend for the 30 days. Gold and silver show more movement down for most of the time. But, look at platinum and palladium. They were volatile throughout the 30 days, but they’re ending the month on a 30 day high.
Let’s look at the closing numbers for today and the highs and lows for the last 30 days:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Jul 30 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,244.00 | $1,157.00 | $1,181.40 | 7.0% |
| Silver | $18.74 | $17.47 | $17.97 | 6.8% |
| Platinum | $1,560.00 | $1,499.00 | $1,569.00 | 3.9% |
| Palladium | $488.00 | $429.00 | $496.00 | 12.1% |
Both platinum and palladium end the day at a higher number than the last 30 days while gold and silver still lag behind earlier highs.
Next, let’s look at how today’s values compare to a week ago:
| Jul 23 Last | Jul 30 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,189.70 | $1,181.40 | -0.7% | -$8.30 |
| Silver | $18.12 | $17.97 | -0.8% | -$0.15 |
| Platinum | $1,539.00 | $1,569.00 | 1.9% | $30.00 |
| Palladium | $462.00 | $496.00 | 7.4% | $34.00 |
Interesting. Gold and silver closed today at values below last Friday’s numbers, but after the Tuesday dip, platinum and palladium increased over last week.
Some claim that improvements in the automobile industry’s sales help drive the platinum and palladium increases. Due to their high heat tolerance, other industries use these metals as well. And remember, these metals are as difficult to find and mine as gold.
With the economic turmoil and the political upheaval of an election year, the metals will continue to be entertaining to watch.
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The Friday Metals
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This week’s metals’ performance includes some climbing, some falling and some sawteeth. (Note: the charts go through Thursday.)
First, there’s gold:
Silver is next:
Then, there’s platinum:
Last, there’s palladium:
Let’s look at how the week ended and the highs and lows for the last 30 days:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Jul 23 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,261.00 | $1,181.00 | $1,189.70 | 6.3% |
| Silver | $19.11 | $17.55 | $18.12 | 8.2% |
| Platinum | $1,592.00 | $1,499.00 | $1,539.00 | 5.8% |
| Palladium | $492.00 | $429.00 | $462.00 | 12.8% |
Now, let’s compare the end of last week to the end of this week. Are we up or down?
| Jul 16 Last | Jul 23 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,193.00 | $1,189.70 | -0.3% | -$3.30 |
| Silver | $17.86 | $18.12 | 1.5% | $0.26 |
| Platinum | $1,507.00 | $1,539.00 | 2.1% | $32.00 |
| Palladium | $448.00 | $462.00 | 3.1% | $14.00 |
Interesting performance.
Several commentaries end the week about the bank stress tests and the performance of gold:
Markets gain but euro, gold off after stress tests (Financial Post)
US gold ends lower; holds firm after stress tests (Reuters)
Gold ends down, tests fail to spur safe-haven buys (MarketWatch)
Bullion buyers bank on gold coins (MarketWatch)
As for platinum and palladium, they claim that an increase in auto sales have improved their values.
Palladium, platinum rise on improving auto sales (Associated Press)
It’s interesting and entertaining to read Kitco’s news headlines over the day. Without even reading the articles, you can see the rise and fall of the metals as the day progresses.
Next week should prove to be interesting as well. Will the metals climb, go sideways or fall? Who knows. Their performance can be fun or disconcerting to watch. Hang on, the ride could be bumpy.
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The Friday Metals
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This week was a roller coaster ride with the metals. These headlines from MarketWatch tell the story of gold’s rise and fall over the last week:
Friday, July 16, 2010: Gold slides 1.7%, lowest closing level since May
Thursday, July 15, 2010: Gold futures close higher on weak economic data
Wednesday, July 14, 2010: Gold ends lower on a weaker dollar
Tuesday, July 13, 2010: Gold rises to highest level in nearly two weeks
Monday, July 12, 2010: Gold ends lower as dollar strengthens
Friday, July 9, 2010: Gold rises 1.2%; silver sees weekly rally
These headlines would be comical if they didn’t illustrate the economic problems of the country and the world.
Let’s look at the charts. First, there’s gold:
Silver is next:
Then, platinum:
Finally, there’s palladium:
What an up and down week.
Let’s look at the high and low numbers for the last 30 days and today’s last trade in New York:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Jul 16 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,261.00 | $1,186.00 | $1,193.00 | 5.9% |
| Silver | $19.37 | $17.65 | $17.86 | 8.9% |
| Platinum | $1,605.00 | $1,500.00 | $1,507.00 | 6.5% |
| Palladium | $502.00 | $429.00 | $448.00 | 14.5% |
Now, how does today’s close compare to last Friday, in percentages and in dollars:
| Jul 9 Last | Jul 16 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,211.40 | $1,193.00 | -1.5% | -$18.40 |
| Silver | $18.15 | $17.86 | -1.6% | -$0.29 |
| Platinum | $1,530.00 | $1,507.00 | -1.5% | -$23.00 |
| Palladium | $457.00 | $448.00 | -2.0% | -$9.00 |
Look at the charts. Both platinum and palladium started the week down from last Friday but on an upward trend. Then both metals ended the week on a downward note from Thursday.
Similarly, gold and silver also started the week down from last Friday, then started to trend upward. However, those charts only show numbers through Thursday. Looking at today’s last trade numbers in the tables, you’ll see that gold and silver also ended the week down from Thursday.
Buckle your seat belts. Next week’s metals’ performances should prove interesting as well.
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The Nickel
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A few weeks ago, we talked about how 2010 nickels in pocket change were more valuable than just a nickel. At that time, the Mint was not producing and distributing very many of the coins.
Now, they have started minting more nickels. Will they increase production significantly? It’s unclear. However, at least for now, they have already exceeded 2009 mintages for the circulating five cent coins.
Let’s look:
That’s a pretty chart, but what are the real numbers? (These production figures are in millions of coins.)
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Denver | 716.88 | 898.8 | 809.28 | 591.6 | 352.8 | 46.8 | 36.24 |
| Philadelphia | 728.16 | 842.31 | 693.12 | 523.68 | 287.76 | 39.84 | 76.08 |
| 1445.04 | 1741.11 | 1502.4 | 1115.28 | 640.56 | 86.64 | 112.32 |
Remember, 2010 is for January through June. It remains to be seen what the US Mint produces for the remainder of the year.
Also, these values represent circulating coinage. They do not include the proof or uncirculated coins.
But why the low mintages? Is it due in part to people cashing in their pocket change? Nickels are relatively sturdy and don’t really need to be replaced in circulation that often. If sufficient nickels exist in circulation and are in good condition, then the Mint shouldn’t have to strike more of the circulating coins.
But, could it also be partially due to the cost of the nickel metal? Let’s look at the charts for the last five years.
First, this chart represents the spot value:
The next chart shows the tons of nickel on the London Metals Exchange, the world’s center for metals, over the last five years:
The two metals charts correlate with each other. Low tonnage equates to high prices, or said another way, supply and demand influence the market. The higher prices also mean businesses only buy what they absolutely need. Conversely, when the tonnage increases, the prices decrease.
However, when you compare the US Mint’s production of nickel coins to the price of nickel, the correlation fails. One would think the production in 2007 when nickel was at its highest price would be dramatically lower. Though the Mint did reduce production that year, the decrease was not as significant as in 2009.
So, how much nickel is used for each coin? Every circulating coin, except for the penny, contains nickel.
| Cent | Nickel | Dime | Quarter | Half Dollar |
Golden Dollar |
|
| % nickel | 0.00% | 25.00% | 8.33% | 8.33% | 8.33% | 2.00% |
| coin weight in grams | 2.5 | 5 | 2.268 | 5.67 | 11.34 | 8.1 |
| grams of nickel in coin | 1.2500 | 0.1889 | 0.4723 | 0.9446 | 0.1620 | |
| ounces of nickel | 0.0441 | 0.0067 | 0.0167 | 0.0333 | 0.0057 |
If we look at the number of nickel coins produced by year, we can translate those numbers into the amount of nickel metal used by the US Mint for their production of five cent coins simply by multiplying by 1.25:
| Grams of Nickel (in millions) | |||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Denver | 896.1 | 1123.5 | 1011.6 | 739.5 | 441.0 | 58.5 | 45.3 |
| Philadelphia | 910.2 | 1052.9 | 866.4 | 654.6 | 359.7 | 49.8 | 95.1 |
| 1806.3 | 2176.4 | 1878.0 | 1394.1 | 800.7 | 108.3 | 140.4 | |
Since we relate to ounces better, those figures converted to ounces are:
| Ounces of Nickel (in millions) | |||||||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | |
| Denver | 31.609 | 39.630 | 35.683 | 26.085 | 15.556 | 2.064 | 1.598 |
| Philadelphia | 32.106 | 37.140 | 30.561 | 23.090 | 12.688 | 1.757 | 3.355 |
| 63.715 | 76.770 | 66.245 | 49.175 | 28.244 | 3.820 | 4.952 | |
Whether it’s 2006 and they use over 66 million ounces or it’s 2010 and they’ve already used almost five million ounces, that’s a lot of nickel metal.
At roughly $10 per pound, the 2010 nickel metal content in the five cent coins produced through June equals over three million dollars - at spot prices. But, the Mint obtains the sheets of metal, already mixed to the coins’ specifications, from other entities. Therefore, the Mint’s cost differs from nickel spot prices.
It will be interesting to see the Mint’s Annual Report later this year to see how much the five cent coin cost to produce this fiscal year.
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The Friday Metals Snapshot
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Another week passed, and the metals’ performance was odd to say the least. Perhaps many factors played a role including the month-end economic news, domestically and globally.
Top of the list is gold:
Next, we have silver:
The expensive, white metal, platinum, is next:
The interesting alternative, palladium, ends the list:
Just look at those charts. Gold and silver have peaks and gorges like the Himalayas whereas platinum and palladium appear more like the Appalachian Mountain chain with more gentle foothills and curved valleys.
In numbers, let’s review the metals’ last 30 days’ performance:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Jul 9 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,261.00 | $1,186.00 | $1,211.40 | 5.9% |
| Silver | $19.37 | $17.65 | $18.15 | 8.9% |
| Platinum | $1,605.00 | $1,500.00 | $1,530.00 | 6.5% |
| Palladium | $502.00 | $428.00 | $457.00 | 14.7% |
Next, let’s compare the end of last week to the end of this week:
| Jul 2 Last | Jul 9 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,211.30 | $1,211.40 | 0.0% | $0.10 |
| Silver | $17.87 | $18.15 | 1.6% | $0.28 |
| Platinum | $1,500.00 | $1,530.00 | 2.0% | $30.00 |
| Palladium | $431.00 | $457.00 | 6.0% | $26.00 |
For the most part, gold and silver hold the most attention in numismatic and investment circles.
Isn’t it interesting that gold really did not change much – a whole, whopping ten cents – from end-of-week to end-of-week. However, when you view the chart, gold did stumble significantly during the week. Silver held its own and didn’t follow quite the same path as gold.
The most intriguing precious metal continues to be palladium. It has the greatest difference, percentage-wise, between its high and low for the last 30 days. But, palladium also enjoyed the largest growth percentage during the week.
The precious metals and their performances remain a fascinating indicator of economic ups and downs.
Plus, some economists claim that due to the economic misfortunes gold will soon take off, maybe even as high as $5000 to $10,000 an ounce. Will it, really, get that high? Who knows…too many variables impact the metals’ values these days.
In the meantime, watch, learn and invest based on your own research.
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