Monthly Archives: August 2011

U.S. gold futures ended lower Thursday, stepping back from two straight days of record settlements and an earlier intraday record that was 10 cents shy of $1,685 an ounce. Thursday's equities sell off was blamed for both gold and silver losses. U.S. stocks suffered their worst day since the 2008 financial crisis, forcing investors to sell bullion profits in order to meet margin calls.

"A lot of people are being forced to exit their equity positions, and they're turning to gold to cover their losses," Matthew Zeman, a strategist at Kingsview Financial in Chicago, said in a telephone interview that was cited on Bloomberg.

December gold prices declined $7.30, or 0.4 percent, to $1,659.00 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Gold touched an intraday low of [...]

This week debut sales figures were released for two new United States Mint products, the 2010-P Mount Hood National Forest Five Ounce Silver Uncirculated Coin and the Gettysburg Quarter Three-Coin Set. Both products enjoyed solid starts, but the Mount Hood five ouncer is moving slower as compared against previous designs in the series.

Buyers ordered 14,759, or 54.7 percent of the maximum 27,000 Mount Hood silver coins between their launch on Thursday, July 28, through to Tuesday, August 2. Mount Hood's release marks the fifth issue in the United States Mint's five ounce America the Beautiful coin series. Sales debuts for the first four coins [...]

Someone forgot to send a "dollar is way up" memo to the gold trading pits this morning; the yellow metal was up by $10, (at $1,671 on the open) aiming for a demolition of the recent $1,675.00 record, despite a heftier than hefty rise in the greenback (what's wrong with this picture? Everything) following central bank interventions this week.

Contrarian sign of the times: JP Morgan wants you to stay long commodities, with gold their "top pick." Now, be fair: you know how that headline would have been treated in certain circles not many months ago. Now, it will be added to the string of 'validations' being trotted out to induce the small retail investor to buy more of the metal at, or near record levels [...]

U.S. gold closed above $1,666 an ounce and to another record for a second straight day on Wednesday as safe-haven demand pushed it and silver prices higher.

December gold prices rose $21.80, or 1.3 percent, to $1,666.30 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Gold traded between $1,654.40 and $1,675.90. The yellow metal has advanced $44.60 since Monday [...]

More ounces of American Gold Eagle bullion coins left United States Mint doors in July 2011 than during the previous month, owing to a greater exodus of the largest one-ounce version. Last month was one of the better July's in the 22-karat gold coins' history.

However, and to the negatives with a backdrop kept in mind in which gold prices surged 8.5 percent in July to hit several records, Gold Eagle sales were not superb when compared against other recent months. The monthly pace was the second slowest in 2011. Also, in comparing similar time frames, total sales remained significantly lower than levels from the same period in 2010 and 2009 [...]

Investors purchased fewer American Eagle Silver bullion coins in July 2011 as compared to June, but a slowdown is typical for this time of year.

In fact, July has been slower than June for seven of the last ten years. This time the difference was 434,000. Still, the month ended with the second best July total ever and ranked 14th in all-time monthly sales, dating back to the series launch in 1986.

2,968,000 of the 99.9% pure silver coins were ordered last month from the United States Mint, according to the [...]

Precious metals dealings once again opened mixed in New York, with gold and silver still free from the effects of any profit-taking gravitational pull and with the noble metals exhibiting the opposite condition.

Spot gold traded at $1,666.60 per ounce (a gain of $6.50) following an overnight vault to nearly $1,675.00 the ounce overseas.

Casting aside the non-default of the US, and the maintenance of the AAA rating of the US by both Fitch's and Moody's, gold specs set out to do that which would have logically been the case in the event the worst had come to pass as a result of Washington's debt wrangling circus [...]

U.S. gold futures surged Tuesday as a worrisome economic outlook ignited safe-haven demand and drove gold prices to a fresh all-time record high.

December gold prices rose $22.80, or 1.4 percent, to $1,644.50 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,618.80 to a high of $1,646.80.

"The flight-to-quality money is flowing into gold... There's a lot of uncertainty about the global economic recovery [...]

The second day of trading action for August opened in somewhat of an... inverse fashion as the one on Monday had; namely, gold and silver notched hefty gains while platinum and palladium did not.

New York spot dealings started off with a $13.80 per ounce rise in gold (at $1,634.10 on the bid) and with a 57-cent climb in silver (at $39.81). Platinum and palladium on the other hand soon stalled out at what appears to be near-term resistance around the $1,800 and the $830 mark respectively [...]