The Friday Metals 02182011

What a week! Were you watching silver on Friday? During the day, silver came close to kissing $33 but didn’t quite get there. All of the metals enjoyed increases this week with one achieving a new 30-day high, two reaching new highs over five and ten years, and one bouncing back somewhat but not yet to a new high. Just take a look at all of the charts.

First, there’s gold:

30 Day Gold Performance 02-18-2011

Next is silver:

30 Day Silver Performance 02-18-2011

Third is platinum:

30 Day Platinum Performance 02-18-2011

Last is palladium:

30 Day Palladium Performance 02-18-2011

Remember, gold fell somewhat last Friday. But, it began this week on an upward climb that didn’t stop. From Tuesday’s close to Wednesday’s, there was only a small growth. Thursday, however, and Friday, saw larger increases with gold finishing the week at a new 30-day high (but not yet to a new 60-day or 1-year high).

Silver, like gold, ended last week on a downward note. On Monday, silver started the week by regaining the value lost during the previous week while Tuesday saw a slight increase that was lost again on Wednesday. But, just look at Thursday and Friday, silver began climbing steeply to end the week on a new high. (And, if you were watching Friday’s charts, silver saw a trading high, briefly, at $32.92 during the middle of the day.) 

This week, platinum’s performance was the odd one of the four. After falling sharply last Friday, platinum bounced back on Monday to gain roughly half of the lost value. For the rest of the week, platinum’s value held relatively steady. On Tuesday, it went up slightly, and Wednesday saw a small backward fall again. On Thursday and Friday, platinum’s value picked up a small increase each day, but the white metal did not gain sufficient growth to get back to the levels of the previous week. 

During the previous week, palladium fell sharply from Tuesday through Friday. This week, it began Monday by picking up between 2/3 and 3/4 of the value lost. Tuesday through Thursday, palladium saw slight increases each day. On Friday, the metal enjoyed steeper growth and ended the week on a new high.

Let’s look at the numbers for the week, first the 30-day performance of highs and lows:

  30 day high 30 day low Feb 18 Last Difference between
High and Low
Gold $1,389.10 $1,314.90 $1,389.10 5.3%
Silver $32.66 $26.68 $32.66 18.3%
Platinum $1,863.00 $1,781.00 $1,832.00 4.4%
Palladium $849.00 $780.00 $849.00 8.1%

 

Next, how did the week’s end close compare to the previous week’s close:

  Feb 11 Last Feb 18 Last Percent Change Dollar
Change
Gold $1,356.80 $1,389.10 2.4% $32.30
Silver $29.91 $32.66 9.2% $2.75
Platinum $1,801.00 $1,832.00 1.7% $31.00
Palladium $812.00 $849.00 4.6% $37.00

 

Just look at those numbers. Palladium had the largest dollar increase but silver had the largest percentage upward movement.

What will the metals do next week? Growth or fall back? They will be interesting to watch.