How did gold, silver, and other metals perform in 2018?

Well, that was a quick year. It seemed like it was only yesterday that we were ringing in 2018.

So, with 2018 in its final day, it’s time to take a look at how precious metals performed over the past year.

Suffice it to say, it was rotten year for the metals, though gold and silver started off strong.

Here is how they ended 2018:

– Gold shed four percent to $1,283.
– Silver fell eight percent to $15.52.
– Copper tumbled 12 percent to $2.64.
– Platinum cratered 22 percent to $799.
– Palladium surged 18 percent to $1,198.

How will metal commodities perform in 2019?

It is difficult to prognosticate, considering that this year should have been a stellar one for gold and silver because of the market volatility, geopolitical tensions, trade disputes, and a dovish Federal Reserve. The metals were hurt by a rallying greenback as the U.S. dollar rose nearly five percent.

But there are plenty of bullish signals for gold: central banks are buying up bullion, hedge funds and money managers are cutting their net-long positions, the Fed is slowing down the pace of rate hikes, and a bear market is here.

We can only hope that Peter Schiff’s prediction about a decade ago that gold would hit $5,000 per ounce would come true!