The Friday Metals 10-21-2011

This week the metals split into two groups. One set of two metals went down-down-down-down-up for the week. The other two performed down-up-down-down-up.

The good news is all four metals ended the week going upward in value. The bad news is all four metals ended the week at values lower than the previous Friday’s closing numbers.

Let’s look.

First, there’s gold:

30 Day Gold Performance 10-21-2011

Next is silver:

30 Day Silver Performance 10-21-2011

Third is platinum:

30 Day Platinum Performance 10-21-2011

Fourth is palladium:

30 Day Palladium Performance 10-21-2011

There are lots of zig-zags showing in those charts – some more extreme than others!

Gold began the week by closing down roughly $9 on Monday. Tuesday’s fall was roughly $15 followed by Wednesday’s drop of $13. On Thursday, gold closed down another $20. But, on Friday, gold almost recovered all of Thursday’s losses – missed it by $0.70.

Silver performed on the other team. It began the week closing down on Monday by $0.36. On Tuesday, silver closed up by $0.24 – not quite regaining its Monday losses. On Wednesday, silver started downward again losing $0.81 by the New York close. Thursday’s close saw another loss of $0.65. At the end of the week, silver climbed and regained all of Thursday’s and part of its Wednesday’s losses.

Platinum’s performance followed gold’s example. It began with Monday’s closing market down slightly at $3. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, platinum continued downward at $19, $17 and $22, respectively. As the other metals, platinum ended on Friday moving upward by $20 which did not recover its losses for Thursday much less the week.

Palladium, on the other hand, performed like silver. Monday’s close was down from the previous Friday by $4, but it regained that loss by being up at Tuesday’s close by $4. The Wednesday and Thursday markets saw palladium drop by $19 and $18, respectively. Ending the week, palladium climbed $28 by Friday’s close to regain not all but a significant portion of the week’s losses.

Let’s review the 30-day performance of the metals’ highs and lows.

  30 day high 30 day low Oct 21 Last Difference between
High and Low
Gold $1,810.25 $1,598.00 $1,642.00 11.7%
Silver $40.25 $28.16 $31.40 30.0%
Platinum $1,784.00 $1,442.00 $1,511.00 19.2%
Palladium $718.00 $549.00 $612.00 23.5%

 

All four metals lost their high value from the previous week as last week’s high values fell off the rolling time period. But, even with the week’s losses, none of the metals encountered a new low point.

We know they lost value, but how much in the week-over-week comparison?

  Oct 14 Last Oct 21 Last Percent Change Dollar
Change
Gold $1,679.80 $1,642.00 -2.3% -$37.80
Silver $32.16 $31.40 -2.4% -$0.76
Platinum $1,552.00 $1,511.00 -2.6% -$41.00
Palladium $621.00 $612.00 -1.4% -$9.00

 

This week, platinum lost the most in percentage and in dollars. Measured another way, the least percentage loss goes to palladium for the week.

As we’ve begun comparing the metals, platinum continues to fall behind gold ending the week at $131 behind the yellow metal.

  mon tues wed thu fri
gold $1,670.70 $1,655.10 $1,642.70 $1,620.20 $1,642.00
platinum $1,549.00 $1,530.00 $1,513.00 $1,491.00 $1,511.00
           
silver $31.80 $32.04 $31.23 $30.58 $31.40
palladium $617.00 $621.00 $602.00 $584.00 $612.00

 

What will next week bring to the metals’ market? Ups and downs are almost guaranteed!

How much remains the mystery.