Gold & Silver Market 4-14-2015
Last week was another very mixed one for precious metals, with most of the key prices falling through the period then recovering sharply on Friday. Gold and palladium finished slightly up over where they were the week before, silver ended slightly down, platinum looked healthier and yet again rhodium barely moved. It’s hard to take any firm conclusions from it but, as the price falls that marked Monday through Thursday coincided with a steady rise in the Dow Jones, it does look like the normal relationship between metals and equities has come back into effect. That makes it slightly easier to guess at how things are going to move in the short term and could be a boost for investor confidence, which is still looking slightly battered at the moment.
Gold started the week well above its previous close thanks to healthy weekend trading, then slowly declined to a low of $1,195 on Thursday. Then things turned around and by Friday’s close it was at $1,207.30, $5 up on the previous period. Combined with more small increases over the previous weeks it looks as if a cautious upwards trend is beginning to emerge and should hopefully take the price to where it’s safely above a hard floor at better than $1,200. There’s nothing on the immediate horizon that should launch it more rapidly upwards but there are hopes that gold is now safer than it has been for a while, and that makes it more attractive whenever turmoil threatens in other markets.
Silver followed a fairly similar pattern through the week, of an initial steady decline followed by a recovery Friday, but unlike old it didn’t manage to make it all the way back up to its close the week before. The spot price ended the week at $16.48, down 27 cents. That’s a fairly modest decrease once again, though, and there’s no sign of a renewal of late 2014’s death spiral.
Investors have been disappointed with platinum recently but it looked a lot better last week. It declined from Monday to Friday, dropping to $1,157 on Thursday, then rallied to close at $1,172.50. That was around $5 below where it opened on Monday, but that price was $24 above its previous close, again thanks to weekend trading. Looked at for the whole period platinum gained $19.50 over the Friday before, which is the first week it’s outperformed gold in a while.
Palladium managed to climb slightly when markets opened but soon joined the general rush to the bottom. It turned around earlier though, beginning to recover on Thursday, and by Friday was back up to $778. That’s $33 higher than its previous close and definitely looking healthy. Palladium could once again be the smart investor’s precious metal of choice.
And lastly rhodium. This certainly isn’t the metal of choice, because there was no significant movement all week from its opening price of $1,095. It closed last week exactly where it had closed the week before – $1,095.
So a mixed week, but with some opportunities starting to emerge. Gold and palladium look like the wise options right now and both are still relatively cheap, so there’s plenty of reason to stock up in anticipation of a rise in the near future.
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. 
