Precious Metals

Gold started upward in Hong Kong, continued until a dip at mid-morning, then blasted past the $1,000 mark shortly before noon, cresting at $1006 before easing through the afternoon hours to finish at $993.20/oz., up $20.00. For the week, gold was up an impressive 5.5%.

Platinum peaked above $1090 right at the Comex open, then traded rangebound between there and $1080 for the rest of the day, ending at $1081/oz., up $14. For the week platinum tacked on 1.9%.

Silver was higher from Hong Kong almost uninterruptedly to near the end of the Comex, peaking just above $14.60 before sliding through the Globex to close at $14.41/oz., up 38 cents. For the week, silver fell just short of gold, adding 5.4%. (Click here for charts)

The precious metals rounded off a robust week in style, sloughing off Thursday’s consolidation to move sharply higher, capped by gold’s breakthrough of the $1,000 mark for the first time since last March.

Although there was clearly a boost to be had from the flight to safety from the plunging equities markets, gold was unaffected by deteriorating crude prices and a rebound in the dollar, and the metal’s inability to close above the psychologically-important millennium mark had few gold bugs fretting.

“The price slide of U.S. equities, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling to its lowest level since October 2002, should result in a continued positive mood of investors on gold,” said an analyst at Commerzbank.

Some analysts are counseling caution, believing that the recent steep runup in the gold price may make it vulnerable to a selloff in the short term. But with equities crumbling across the board, where would investors go?

The always-perceptive Peter Spina, of Goldforecaster.com, peers into his crystal ball, and writes: “Gold is pushing its record highs from last year, resistance will be formidable, but whether it does it in the next few weeks or in a few months, gold is clearly headed higher, much higher. $1,200 and higher gold is now a possibility in the short-term. Pullbacks will see continued strong investment demand, both from institutional and retail investors. At the rapid rate global paper currencies are being diluted, the destruction of trust and integrity within the financial and banking system and destabilizing consequences such actions will promote, gold and silver are going to attract record amounts of capital seeking wealth preservation.”

To which all we can add is: yup.