The Friday Metals 07162010

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:

30 Day Gold Performance 07162010

Silver is next:

30 Day Silver Performance 07162010

Then, platinum:

30 Day Platinum Performance 07162010

Finally, there’s palladium:

30 Day Palladium Performance 07162010

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.