Gold & Silver Market 9-27-2015
Last week was a very mixed one for precious metals with some prices up, others down and some not really going anywhere. It’s been yet another turbulent week for the global economy and equities have taken a battering. First there were more disappointing Chinese manufacturing growth figures, then the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal; between them they’ve dented every major stock index. That set the stage for precious metals to have a good week, but not all of them managed it.
Gold didn’t move significantly, although what movement we did see trended up. Early in the week it didn’t look like that would be the case, with the spot price starting down over the weekend and continuing to fall sharply through Tuesday. Wednesday saw it stabilize though, and a jump on Thursday brought it all the way back up again. The final price for the week was $1,146.30, only $6.40 up on its previous close but still moving in the right direction.
Silver followed a similar path, dropping steeply early in the week before recovering Thursday. It closed the period at $15.125, which is 5.5 cents below where it was the Friday before. That’s not enough of a drop to indicate any downward trend though, and given how weak silver has been for the past few months we’re reasonably happy with its performance last week.
The same can’t be said for platinum. Like gold and silver it started the week with a rapid fall, hitting a new five-year low of $931 on Tuesday. It joined in the general recovery Thursday, climbing back above $950, but slipped back slightly to end the week at $945. That’s a one-week loss of $35, slightly under 4 percent, so not a great performance and still close to a long-term low. Platinum isn’t looking strong right now, and while it’s definitely a bad time to sell we wouldn’t recommend buying either.
Palladium had a much better week though. It started the period heading up, dipped briefly Tuesday then kept on climbing through to Friday. It ended at $662, a very impressive gain of $57. That’s not far short of a 10 percent rise and it puts palladium higher than it’s been since early July. Industrial demand remains healthy and there’s no real prospect of the supply increasing in the near future, so we see a lot of potential for more gains. If you have the chance to boost your palladium holdings this is a great time to do it.
It probably isn’t a surprise that rhodium fell again – like platinum it dropped early in the week then stayed down through to Friday, although it did manage to pick up slightly in the last hours of trading. The final price was $760, $5 lower than the previous week. That’s not significant but the overall trend remains downwards.
On balance we’d say last week was generally positive. There were some losses and palladium was the only real winner, but with the economy looking so shaky it’s still not a bad performance. The relative firmness of silver is particularly encouraging.
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. 
