Gold & Silver Market 5-17-2015
Last week was a mixed one for precious metals but overall we’d say it was a positive one, with significant price increases for gold and silver and, apart from rhodium, some promising activity in the platinum group as well. Conditions across other markets have been mixed, with equities falling through Wednesday then rising again, while the Euro rose against the dollar and crude oil prices went nowhere, so the generally good performance of metals is quite a hopeful sign. There’s a good chance we’ll see more progress this week, which would do a lot for the profitability of any stocks bought over the last three months.
Beginning with gold we saw a steady rise that lasted all week, although it did slow down fractionally on Friday. The final price on Friday afternoon was $1,223.50, a rise of $36 over its previous close. That’s just a fraction under 3 percent higher, and one of the best performances we’ve seen from gold in a while. A similar increase this week could indicate a solid trend setting in; at the very least we should expect to see some support developing at $1,200 or slightly higher.
Silver has been weak for months now but last week brought a very welcome return to form. Like gold the spot price climbed strongly all week, tailing off a bit on Friday but never reversing course. The result was an extremely healthy increase of $1.10, bringing it to $17.495. That’s a gain of almost 7 percent, the best weekly performance we’ve seen from silver in a long while. Some analysts are predicting average prices for the year of around $16.50, which seems much too low, but others expect a massive increase in solar panel production to raise demand and push the price up steadily. If this works out it would make silver an excellent long-term investment.
Platinum has been trending down for a while but it managed to turn around last week, following very much the same path as gold and silver – rising straight out of the gate on Monday morning and keeping it up right through to Friday. Overall it gained $30, bringing it to a closing price of $1,168 per ounce. Compared with its sluggish and bumpy progress over the last few weeks it’s suddenly looking much livelier, and well worth considering.
For most of the year palladium has been the strongest overall performer so it was slightly surprising to see it struggle in a week when most other metals climbed, but despite a rocky performance from Monday through Thursday it did eventually break out and end the week on a rising note, closing at $790. That’s unfortunately still $5 lower than the week before thanks to losses in weekend trading but Friday’s jump could indicate a correction back to a more reasonable price. Palladium will need watching this week.
And last of all there’s rhodium. Following the previous period’s fall this metal seems to have settled back into inactivity, spending the whole week within a narrow range around $1,145. Right now anyone who’s not playing a long game should probably move from rhodium into one of the livelier metals.
A mixed week, then, but in general a promising one. Fingers crossed that this week gives us more of the same.
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. 
