Silver Pummeled as U.S. Weekly Prices Dive 7.4%

U.S. silver prices tumbled 7.4% on the week, falling the most since the 8.4% drop during the week ending February 5, 2010.

Much of the metal’s decline — 91.8 cents worth — occurred on Thursday as a volley of reports added to worries of an economic slowdown in the U.S. and China, triggering a large sell-off in commodities. Gold, platinum, palladium and silver were hit exceptionally hard.

"In addition to a measure of safe haven liquidation, the silver market also saw an aggressive wave of physical commodity market selling pressure," noted Neil Sloan on StockMarketsReview.com. "The bull camp hopes that the economic situation in the US will become severe enough to rekindle flight to quality interest in silver, but that could also put the silver market under additional near term pressure as the trade weighs economic uncertainty versus deflationary indications," added Sloan.

Thursday’s loss came on the heels of a 7.3 cent increase on Wednesday — the day marking the end to the second quarter in which sliver soared 6.7%, capping a string of six consecutive quarterly gains.

On Friday, New York silver futures for September delivery closed to $17.703 an ounce for a 6.7 cent, or 0.4% loss. That dug a deeper hole for the week, with prices plummeting $1.407 since last Friday. Silver’s weekly intraday high was reached on Monday at $19.270 an ounce.

Based on New York futures closing prices, the current gold to silver ratio has increased to 68.2 as compared to last week when 1 ounce of gold could buy 65.7 ounces of silver.

The London silver fix ended at $17.980 an ounce — its lowest level of the week. It posted a loss of 67.0 cents, or 3.6%, since last Friday. Its highest price point was on Monday at $19.110 an ounce.

In silver coin news, the United States Mint published the final June sales for bullion American Silver Eagle coins. The eagles reached 3,001,000 for the month and hit 18,168,500 during the first half of 2010. June comes in as the fourth best month of the year — although it is normal for surrounding summer months to have lower levels than those around winter. For more information, to include the latest U.S. Mint numismatic silver coins sales, read the SilverCoinsToday.com article US Mint Sales: Disabled American Veterans Silver Dollars Surge.

Precious metal weekly prices follow from New York and London:

New York Futures Precious Metal Prices
	August Gold	September Silver	October Platinum	September Palladium
6/25/2010	1256.20	19.110	1570.40	477.90
7/2/2010	1207.70	17.703	1503.60	426.90

 

New York Futures Weekly Changes
	Up	Down	% Change	Gain/Loss
Silver		X	-7.4%	-$1.407
Gold		X	-3.9%	-$48.50
Platinum		X	-4.3%	-$66.80
Palladium		X	-10.7%	-$51.00

 

London Fix Precious Metal Prices
	Gold		Silver	Platinum		Palladium
	AM	PM		AM	PM	AM	PM
6/25/2010	1242.50	1254.00	18.650	1557.00	1556.00	472.00	471.00
7/2/2010	1210.50	1201.50	17.9800	1516.00	1508.00	438.00	433.00

 

London Weekly Bullion Changes
	Up	Down	% Change	Gain/Loss
Silver		X	-3.6%	-$0.67
Gold		X	-4.2%	-$52.50
Platinum		X	-3.1%	-$48.00
Palladium		X	-8.1%	-$38.00

 

For daily prices, check out the silver spot price page.