Gold loses out this week as the yellow bullion reports a -3.41% loss. The precious metal saw its prices drop from Monday’s market open price of $1,847/oz to $1,784/oz at the time of writing. This week, gold prices saw a high of $1,850/oz and a low of $1,779/oz, the lowest in slightly over 3 weeks. This downtrend, which started halfway through last week, has set the metal back in terms of its recovery. On a 3 month basis, the metal is now down -1.98%.
Gold Price (6 months)
Source: GoldSilverPrice.eu
Silver experiences a substantial drop in value this week as it sees its prices drop from Monday’s market open price of $24.65/oz to today’s price of $23.03/oz. This decrease amounts to a -6.57% loss in value. This week, the white metal experienced a high of $24.95/oz and a weekly low of $22.98/oz. This is the metal’s lowest price and first time dipping below the $23 level in over 6 weeks. This week’s losses puts silver on a backtrack with its 3 month price change amounting to -3.56%.
Silver Price (6 months)
Source: GoldSilverPrice.eu
Platinum suffers this week as well as its value drops -7.77% with prices dropping from Monday’s $1,030/oz to $950/oz at the time of writing. This week, the high was recorded at $1,043/oz while the low was $947/oz, the lowest price in nearly 2 months. In the last 3 months, the metal’s value has gone down -5.47%.
Palladium records major losses in a 5 day period as the metal’s price drops from $2,049/oz to $1,765/oz with its total value dropping -13.86% since Monday. This week, the metal’s high was recorded at $2,082/oz while the low was $1,698/oz, the lowest price since March 2020, over 20 months ago. Over a 3 months period, palladium’s value has dropped -28.05%.
Rhodium prices increase just 0.89% as its prices increase from $11,200/oz on Monday to $11,300/oz today. Despite massive losses in 2021, the metal has yet to regain any strong recovery. In the last 3 months, rhodium has loss -31.52% of its value and -50.87% in the last 6 months.
Looking forward, gold prices have and will likely to continue to benefit from the new COVID-19 B.1.1.529 variant that originated in South Africa. The strain has already caused some countries to impose new travel restrictions on travelers from African countries.
US Treasury yields have hit a 2 week low after increasing to multi-month highs. This pushed gold prices higher during the Friday trading session.
The US Dollar Index dips 0.79% after the dollar hit a 16 month high level. This also acted as a push factor for gold prices, a dollar denominated commodity.
This week, gold prices fell amidst a US Fed announcement that chair Jerome Powell will retain his position, he was the more hawkish of two candidates that were running for the seat. Despite this, we can likely expect gold prices to benefit from his appointment as he is actually one of the most dovish Fed Chairs in recent decades. The vice chair Lael Brainard is also known to favor dovish policies.
