The past week ended with the metals’ performance split between two up and two down.
Let’s look.
First, there’s gold:
Next is silver:
Third is platinum:
Fourth is palladium:
We think of the charts as up and down like a roller coaster, but perhaps we should think of the metals as bumper cars being bounced by the world’s larger bumper cars of the economy and the politics.
Gold won this week – at least from the standpoint of it ended the week higher than the previous week’s ending values. The yellow metal started the week moving upward, but Tuesday’s market lost all of Monday’s gains. On Wednesday and Thursday, gold ended each day up from the previous day. But, gold did not regain Monday’s higher closing value before heading downward at the end of the week.
Behaving somewhat similarly, silver also started the week with upward movement. Tuesday ended with a downturn for silver, but Wednesday’s market regained all of Tuesday’s losses by the close. Thurday’s silver market went upward again only to end downward at Friday’s close – retaining part of the week’s gains.
Unfortunately, the metals’ markets have not been kind to the two other white metals.
Platinum began the week with Monday’s closing value less than the previous Friday’s number. Tuesday’s platinum market saw another drop before increasing on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday’s market turned downward again and closed lower than the previous Friday’s closing number.
Though the numbers are different, palladium performed much like platinum. Monday’s value was down from the previous Friday’s. Tuesday continued downward with Wednesday and Thursday’s closing values moving upward. Friday, however, saw another downward close at less than the previous Friday’s number.
Let’s review the 30-day performance numbers:
| 30 day high | 30 day low | Oct 7 Last | Difference between High and Low |
|
| Gold | $1,879.50 | $1,598.00 | $1,638.70 | 15.0% |
| Silver | $42.34 | $28.16 | $31.27 | 33.5% |
| Platinum | $1,860.00 | $1,442.00 | $1,494.00 | 22.5% |
| Palladium | $762.00 | $549.00 | $586.00 | 28.0% |
The 30-day high numbers all decreased as the previous high values moved off the rolling 30-day chart. This week, silver and gold did not move below the previous low values, but both platinum and palladium encountered new low values.
As noted earlier, two metals gained over the week and two lost:
| Sep 30 Last | Oct 7 Last | Percent Change | Dollar Change |
|
| Gold | $1,624.80 | $1,638.70 | 0.9% | $13.90 |
| Silver | $29.97 | $31.27 | 4.3% | $1.30 |
| Platinum | $1,523.00 | $1,494.00 | -1.9% | -$29.00 |
| Palladium | $611.00 | $586.00 | -4.1% | -$25.00 |
Silver had the largest percentage gain with gold having the largest dollar increase. Conversely, palladium had the largest percentage decrease while platinum had the largest dollar loss.
As we’ve noted before, in recent years gold’s value has lagged behind platinum. Now, the difference between gold and platinum grows ever larger as gold increases and platinum decreases.
| mon | tues | wed | thu | fri | |
| gold | $1,660.90 | $1,624.20 | $1,642.60 | $1,650.30 | $1,638.70 |
| platinum | $1,506.00 | $1,479.00 | $1,487.00 | $1,512.00 | $1,494.00 |
| silver | $30.49 | $30.23 | $30.51 | $31.93 | $31.27 |
| palladium | $584.00 | $565.00 | $571.00 | $603.00 | $586.00 |
At the end of the week, gold’s value exceeded platinum’s by roughly $144. That continues to be amazing.
What will happen to the metals in the next week? How will the bumper cars fare?
Whatever happens, it will be interesting to watch.