Bullion: The Friday Metals 11-18-2011

Isn’t there a saying, “What goes up must come down?”

Well, the metals went up and they came back down!

Let’s look. First, there’s gold:

Bullion: Gold 60 Day Performance 11-18-2011

Next is silver:

Bullion: Silver 30 Day Performance 11-18-2011

Third is platinum:

Bullion: Platinum 30 Day Performance 11-18-2011

Last is palladium:

Bullion: Palladium 30 Day Performance 11-18-2011

This week, three of the metals followed similar performance paths. Palladium was slightly different.

Gold, silver and platinum began the week down from the previous Friday. They went up on Tuesday and fell on Wednesday and Thursday. The three metals ended the week on a small up tick  but were down in week-over-week performance.

Being different, palladium began the week up from the previous Friday and continued with a slight upward move on Tuesday. Like the other metals, palladium fell on Wednesday and Thursday. Unlike the other metals, palladium ended the week on a down note.

Let’s look at the 30-day highs and lows:

  30 day high 30 day low Nov 18 Last Difference between
High and Low
Gold $1,795.60 $1,620.00 $1,724.80 9.8%
Silver $35.42 $30.58 $32.41 13.7%
Platinum $1,661.00 $1,490.00 $1,592.00 10.3%
Palladium $673.00 $584.00 $600.00 13.2%

 

Even with the falling values this week, some rather dramatically, none of the metals fell below their recent low points.

The week-over-week performance table shows the significant drop in values:

  Nov 11 Last Nov 18 Last Percent Change Dollar
Change
Gold $1,788.50 $1,724.80 -3.6% -$63.70
Silver $34.66 $32.41 -6.5% -$2.25
Platinum $1,639.00 $1,592.00 -2.9% -$47.00
Palladium $656.00 $600.00 -8.5% -$56.00

 

Since gold’s performance has been climbing the most, it also fell the most this week – at least in terms of dollars. The largest percentage fall belongs to palladium.

Though platinum fell like gold, it didn’t lose as much, which resulted in the difference between gold and platinum decreasing slightly. Now, platinum is behind gold at $132 versus the $149 from last week.

Looking at the New York close on a day to day basis, we can see how the metals fared during the week.

  mon tues wed thu fri
gold $1,780.30 $1,781.10 $1,762.20 $1,719.90 $1,724.80
platinum $1,638.00 $1,638.00 $1,617.00 $1,581.00 $1,592.00
           
silver $34.24 $34.57 $33.70 $31.71 $32.41
palladium $663.00 $664.00 $648.00 $608.00 $600.00

 

The past week was definitely a volatile week for the metals.

What will happen during the upcoming holiday week? Will the rest of the world’s economy and politics drive the metals up or down while the US market has a holiday?

And, will the economic and political upheaval in the US impact the metals before the holiday?

Time will tell.

Of course, in most cases the best time to buy is when the metals are down!