Gold and Silver Both Issue Monthly Bearish Signals, Bull Market May Need Six Months to Recover

April 14 – Heraeus Precious Metals analysts said in a new report that both gold and silver formed a bearish engulfing pattern on their March monthly candlestick charts — opening higher than the prior month but closing lower. This signal lines up with the end of January’s bull market and the timing of U.S. military action against Iran, the team warned, adding the precious metals space may need months of consolidation and sideways trading before the bull run resumes. **Gold** A similar bearish engulfing pattern last hit gold in April 2022, when prices fell from $2,000/oz to $1,600/oz over six straight months. Heraeus noted if the recent uptrend reverses, the next key support level is near March’s low around $4,100/oz. Still, rising inflation and falling real interest rates will support gold demand, and the ongoing bull market is likely to absorb the current pullback. **Central Bank Gold Buying** Global central banks kept up net gold purchases overall: 27 tons in February, up from 5 tons in January. Poland’s central bank added 20.2 tons in February — its biggest single-month increase in nearly a year. Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan also boosted holdings, while Turkey and Russia were top sellers. **Silver** Perth Mint’s March sales of silver bars and coins dropped to 976,000 ounces — a sharp drop from February’s two-year high of nearly 2 million ounces. The U.S. Mint’s American Silver Eagle sales edged down from 1.7 million ounces in February to 1.6 million in March, but first-quarter 2024 sales topped 8.1 million ounces, a big jump from 5.3 million ounces last year.