Gold & Silver Market 6-21-2015
Last week was a mixed one for the precious metals market, with gold and silver modestly up and the platinum group all down. There hasn’t been any change in demand from industry so it looks like the current unsettled global economy is driving up demand for silver and gold in their traditional role as safe havens. The main culprit, again, is probably the Greek debt crisis. Most investors are hoping that will be sorted in the next ten days but right now it’s impossible to predict what’s going to happen with exchange rates when it is. If the Euro breaks upwards that’s good news for US exporters, who’ve been having a hard time thanks to the strong dollar, and we’d expect to see a rapid move to equities and a fall in metal prices. On the other hand if the single currency weakens even more against the dollar a lot of US stocks are going to take a beating, and commodities are going to benefit.
Anyway, starting with gold, it had an unimpressive start to the week and fell slightly on Monday. It steadied Tuesday, then on Thursday the spot price lifted off and peaked around $1,206. It dropped back slightly on Friday to close at $1,200.30, a gain of $19 over the previous period. That’s not much, but it’s the second week in a row it’s managed to climb. That’s a promising sign that the recent fall isn’t going to turn into a mid-term trend.
Silver followed a similar pattern, falling early in the period then picking up fast on Thursday. There was a lot more volatility than we saw with gold; the price briefly topped $16.40 before slipping back late Thursday and into Friday, but it still managed to close 13.5 cents up at $16.09. That goes a long way to making up what it lost the week before, and more importantly it’s starting to narrow the gold-silver ratio again. It’s always a worrying sign when that diverges.
Moving on to platinum the story’s very different. The spot price fell rapidly as soon as the markets opened Monday, and a slow regain that began Tuesday never brought it back to where it started. The final price on Friday was $1,080, a fall of $13.
Palladium was the worst performer in the whole sector last week, sliding gently on Monday then dropping sharply the next day. It looked to have stabilized on Thursday but late morning on Friday saw another steep fall that took the price all the way down to $706. That’s $29 lower than the previous Friday and takes palladium to a new one-year low. If you have a stock, and you don’t plan it as a long-term investment, it’s time to consider selling and moving into gold.
Finally there’s rhodium. Movement here has all been down for the last two months, and there wasn’t any improvement last week. A heavy fall on Wednesday took it to just $955 an ounce, the second $25 weekly loss in a row. Again, it looks like it’s time to move out of rhodium into one of the better-performing metals.
So, a distinct split in performance last week, with the most popular investments gaining and the platinum group losing heavily. If you’re planning to buy into precious metals then right now gold and silver are the ones to go for.
About the Author: Clint Stelfox
Clint is the director of marketing at Golden Eagle Coins. Son of Richard Stelfox, co-founder of the company, Clint has been living and breathing coins his entire life. After trading for a Philadelphia Stock Exchange firm for several years Clint returned to give Golden Eagle the online presence it has today. 
