Gold futures retreated Tuesday, dipping from a three-month high on some profit-taking, but they saw support from safe-haven buying on a weakened U.S. stock market.
Gold for April delivery shed 80 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,127.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"It looks like there’s some flight back into safety," Bloomberg News quoted Phil Streible, a senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago. "Gold is getting a nice bid as ETF holdings are near a three-month high."
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,122.60 to a high of $1,131.50. They advanced by 1% in the prior session to close at their highest point since Nov. 2. Prices are up 6.3% on the year to date.
Silver for March delivery lost 5.4 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $14.289 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $14.23 to $14.41. On Monday, they moved up by 10 cents or 0.7%.
In PGM futures on Tuesday:
-
April platinum declined $14.40, or 1.7%, to $855.70 an ounce, trading between $853.50 and $873.40.
- Palladium for March delivery fell $11.05, or 2.2%, to $491.30 an ounce, ranging from $490.40 to $505.30.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices were mixed. In comparing their levels from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold added $2, or 0.2%, to $1,128.50 an ounce.
- Silver declined 7 cents, or 0.5%, to $14.26 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint bullion gains on Tuesday included 6,000 ounces in gold coins and 288,000 ounces in silver coins.
The U.S. Mint allocated sales of American Silver Eagles this week to 1,045,500 coins. With Tuesday’s increase, 97.6% of them have been ordered with 25,000 left until more are available next week.
On Monday, the U.S. Mint started selling the first 2016-dated America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Coin. Emblematic of Shawnee National Forest in Illinois, first-day sales of the silver coin reached 41,800 for a total of 209,000 ounces. The Mint did not publish any increases for it on Tuesday, nor has the agency stated how many it will sell in total. In 2015, the last three five ounce coins had limits of 45,000 each.
Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Last Week | This Week / Feb | Jan Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 5,500 | 12,000 | 7,000 | 89,000 | 96,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 0 | 23,000 | 23,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 36,000 | 36,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 150,000 | 155,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 500 | 34,000 | 34,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 288,000 | 926,500 | 1,020,500 | 5,954,500 | 6,975,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | N/A | 41,800 | N/A | 41,800 |
Does anyone know if the Mint is still only allocating 60,000 5 oz. coins across the board to the ATB pucks?
Jp –
Surprisingly, U.S. Mint spokesman Michael White said yesterday February 2 that the total mintage across both options (bullion versions & Uncirculated “P” Mint mark version) is a whopping 150,000 for 2016 5-ounce “pucks”! The mintage limit last year 2015 was 65,000 across both options. This is a very high mintage for this year IMHO. Only time will tell.
Happy collecting Jp!
-NumisDudeTX