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Weekly Survey of Gold and Silver Prices
Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark
Money Daily has been providing business and financial market news, views, and coverage on a nearly continuous basis since 2006. Complete archives are available at moneydaily.blogspot.com.
PRIOR COVERAGE:
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Sunday, August 16, 2026, 1:00 pm ET It's summer. Deal with it. Go shop for back to school stuff or hit the beach. Stocks It was a dull week for stocks, with the Dow taking a weekly loss and the NASDAQ and S&P posting marginal gains. As the dog days continue over the next three weeks up to Labor Day, there doesn't appear to be many catalysts pushing stocks one way or another, so three might be some sideways movement overall. Late August and September aren't exactly the best of times for stocks in general. Usually, any summer rally happens through June and July and that appears to have been the case this season. Overall, second quarter earnings season has been a dud, with more than the usual share of companies meeting or beating targets only to see the stock price sell off upon announcement. It's a sign of an over-extended rally, and this way is well past its use-by date. However, Wall Street being the selling machine that it is and more than an adequate supply of easy money still afloat, there's nothing really stopping stocks from heading even higher. There aren't many obvious signs of slowing, so extra funds will likely find their way into stocks. Earnings season continues winding down, the week ahead dominated by retailers, which may offer a glimpse into the health of the general economy. Keeping a close eye on the home improvement stores, Home Depot and Lowe's, as well as Walmart, Target, and Estee Lauder in consumer retail. Monday: (before open) BitFuFu (FUFU); (after close) Fabrinet (FN), Flexsteel (FLXS) Tuesday: (before open) Baidu (BIDU), Klarna (KLAR), Home Depot (HD); (after close) Lazboy (LZB), Toll Brothers (TOL) Wednesday: (before open) Viking Cruise lines (VIK), Weibo (WB), Target (TGT), TJX (TJX), Lowe's (LOW), Estee Lauder (EL) Analog Devices (ADI; (after close) COTY (COTY), Nordson (NDSN) Thursday: (before open) Alibaba (BABA), Walmart (WMT), Advance Auto Parts (AAP), John Deere (DE); (after close) Ross Stores (ROST) Friday: (before open) BJ's Wholesale (BJ) Data releases will be few and relatively unimportant in the week ahead. Monday has the NY Manufacturing Index. Tuesday, Capacity Utilization, Industrial Production, and Pening Home Sales. Thursday offers the weekly unemployment claims and the monthly report on economic activity from the Philly Fed. Not much to dive into there. Relevant data releases can be found at Trading View. Treasury Yield Curve Rates
Yield on the 30-year bond bumped higher during the week, to 5.25%, and the 10-year note advanced three basis points to 4.68%, both near the high points of the recent range. The market appears to be scrambling toward short-term issues. The 2-year note dropped to 4.17%, but it can't get much lower, with the 30-day rate stuck at 3.79%. The danger is a preference for bills, with easy money to be made in maturities of two years or shorter, though the levels under four percent barely keep up with real inflation (around 4-6%). The longer maturities, which should provide the basis for stable funding in the U.S., are being shunned internationally, setting up a scenario that actually favors cutting rates rather than raising them. The market is doing most of the heavy lifting for the Fed, which seems likely to keep the federal funds target rate on hold at least until the midterms, though the September and October FOMC meetings. The high spreads on 2s-10s and full spectrum are sending warning signs that U.S. credit markets are in danger of being bi-furcated, which poses a big problem for sustained stability, the question being, wo wants to hold U.S. debt for 10 or 30 years at five or six percent when the government has shown no preference to reign in runaway spending? Treasury has already stepped in to save the yen from further devaluation, mostly in hopes that Japan won't continue selling its U.S. holdings, the largest by one country in the world. While the financial world wants to know how the Fed is going to handle inflation, the real story may be hidden in long term rates. Inflation may seem like a walk in the park if disinflation and devaluation of the currency becomes even more of an issue than it already is. The Fed, holding its cards close, doesn't want to talk about lowering rates in a scenario which may soon become one in which it has no choice. The U.S. economy - unlike the overly-speculative stock market - is limping along at a GDP growth rate between one and two percent, numbers which could easily be construed as negative when factoring in inflation. The U.S. may be able to avoid recession though the end of the year, but by 2027 it may become obvious that there isn't enough breath in the economy across all industries. Having some sectors (AI infrastructure) growing at the expense of others (small business, consumer-facing industries, manufacturing) is a recipe for failure. Spreads:
2s-10s
Full Spectrum (30-days - 30-years) Oil/Gas The situation in the Middle East continues to cool, with Iran and Oman dictating terms in the Persian Gulf while Yemen continues to strike the Saudis, keeping the war flames burning in the region. To the north, Russia is being continually bombarded by Ukraine drone storms, the four-year-old war escalating into dangerous territory. Considering the carnage brought to oil producers and refiners, it's somewhat surprising that the price of oil and gas at the pump hasn't reached critical levels. WTI crude oil futures closed out the week at $82.40/barrel, which is closer to the low end of the price range since the Middle East conflict began more than six months ago. Average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in the U.S. was $3.96 last week and $4.04 this week. Peace prospects in the Middle East are easing fears of higher gas prices, but the threat of war and an unstable situation at the Strait of Hormuz is keeping prices somewhat elevated. Gas prices in key states:
California (leader): $5.56 (-0.02) On Sunday, April 16th, there are seventeen (17) states with average prices at or above $4.00, with thirty-one (31) below the $4 threshold, not including Hawaii ($5.42) and Alaska ($4.81), with two above $5 (California and Washington). The Southeast has maintained as the lowest region overall over the past 11 weeks as a gallon of unleaded regular is averaging below $4.00 ($3.52-3.77) in places like Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, and Mississippi, with the Midwest region second, prices ranging from $3.80 to $3.98. Exceptions include Florida in the Southeast and Michigan and Illinois in the Midwest. Prices in the Northeast eased slightly over the past two weeks. Bitcoin
This week: $63,223.08 Don't buy the hype. Crypto is dead money. Even if you bought some five years ago, you're up 30%, which averages out to six percent per year, just barely beating inflation. It's a poor investment no matter how one sees it. Precious Metals Gold:Silver Ratio: 67.64; last week: 68.29 Futures, per COMEX continuous contracts:
Gold price 7/17: $4,023.00
Silver price 7/17: $56.22
SPOT: (stockcharts.com)
Silver 7/17: $55.91 Gold and silver held onto gains from the piror week and actually added slightly on those price levels. It wasn't a big week for precious metals, but maybe an important one. With stocks lallygagging through the week and pressure to the downside on interest rates, metals actually emerged as winners in what turned out to be a dull week for traders. With volatility squeezed out to some degree, there's open space ahead for gold and silver pricing. The present precedent has some of the characteristics of a turnaround in price and sentiment. Gold and silver holders, more than possibly anybody else in the trading universe, are realists who see the longer term trends for the dollar and U.S. economy as severely eroded and continuing to worsen. $40 trillion in federal debt, an annual interest payment of over a trillion dollars a year for as far as the eye can see and GDP operating in a range of one to three percent over decades and inflation higher than that is not what anybody with a realistic view of the situation would call healthy or sustainable. Eventually, there will come a reckoning. Asset prices, at or near all-time highs will have to adjust to lower levels if the American economy is to survive. The middle class hollowed out into what is now a pay-as-you-go system with no leeway for savings or emergencies has no alternatives unless there is change. The warfare/welfare state has drained the public's wealth and will. Pressure from outside sources, in terms of de-dollarization and rejection of the current neo-capitalist fascist system of a government marriage with industry run by people with no intent other than to enrich themselves, will fail and the pain will be felt across society. Those who have prepared well enough or who already have sufficient assets to ride out the coming economic storm will survive. All others will suffer. This is not a scenario for the next few months or years, but for decades ahead. America has reached a turning point, one at which the people are not well-served by their government, but rather, abused. That sets in motion an unsustainable level of civil disruption and institutional rot. People may not riot openly in the streets, but people will take measures to protect and enhance their own interests. Here are the most recent prices for common one ounce gold and silver items sold on eBay (free shipping included, numismatics excluded):
The Single Ounce Silver Market Price Benchmark (SOSMPB) took a quantum leap forward, closing the week at $75.53, an upside move of $1.88 per troy ounce from the August 9 price of $73.65. WEEKEND WRAP Enjoy the remaining weeks of summer, even after Labor Day. It's really a quiet period, even for politicians, who are not likley to bother anybody until they come back into session around September 9. What a relief.
At the Close, Friday, August 14, 2026:
For the Week:
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