Precious metals declined on Friday after a stronger-than-anticipated U.S. jobs report. While all metals had been poised for weekly gains on Thursday, only gold managed to maintain its position, ending a two-week losing streak.
Gold for April delivery, after reaching a one-month high, experienced a decline, shedding $17.40, or 0.8%, to settle at $2,053.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, snapping a streak of four consecutive wins.
Gold held “on like a barnacle despite a whopper of an employment report,” Reuters quoted Tai Wong, a New York-based independent metals analyst.
“But we might need to wait a little and see if gold grinds much lower,” added Wong.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 353,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%, the Labor Department said on Friday. Expectations were around 180,000 to 185,000.
Gold prices recorded a 1.8% weekly gain, rebounding from a 0.6% drop the previous week and a 1.1% decline in the week ending January 19. On Thursday, the yellow metal settled at its highest price since Jan. 2. Year-to-date, gold is down 0.9%.
In other news, silver for March delivery fell by 44 cents, or 1.9%, closing at $22.796 an ounce. Silver prices declined 0.3% this week after a 0.7% rise last week, leaving them 5.4% lower for the year.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
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April platinum declined by $20.70, or 2.2%, to end at $901.60 an ounce, resulting in a 2.1% weekly loss.
- Palladium for March delivery fell by $22.60, or 2.3%, ending at $949 an ounce, which led to a 1.3% decrease in prices for the week.
When assessing their performance in the first five weeks of the year, platinum has shown a 10.7% drop, while palladium has incurred a 14.5% loss.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2024
On Friday, published U.S. Mint bullion sales remained unchanged. On Thursday, the bureau adjusted its bullion sales for January, increasing American Gold Eagles by 3,500 ounces and American Gold Buffalos by 500 ounces.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | This Week | November | December | 2023 Sales | January | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 11,000 | 16,500 | 40,000 | 15,000 | 924,000 | 87,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 102,000 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 16,000 | 0 | 198,000 | 46,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 25,000 | 55,000 | 15,000 | 675,000 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 8,000 | 14,000 | 5,500 | 387,000 | 46,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 0 | 2,378,000 | 525,000 | 24,750,000 | 4,900,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 | 0 |