Gold, silver and platinum futures declined in their start to the new trading week on Monday. Palladium soared 5.1%. Gold, meanwhile, logged its worst one-day percentage loss in five weeks.
Gold for December delivery declined $25.10, or 1.9%, to settle at $1,279.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the weakest since Oct. 27 and the drop the biggest since Oct. 4.
"U.S. election risk and the potential for a Tuesday surprise should dominate gold trading sentiment in the short term," Citi Research said in a note according to Reuters.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,278.60 to a high of $1,296.50. They climbed 2.2% last week for their fourth straight weekly increase.
Meanwhile, silver for December delivery fell 22 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $18.151 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $18 and $18.29. Last week, they jumped 3.2% and also recorded their fourth week of gains in a row.
In other precious metals futures on Monday:
-
January platinum lost $3.10, or 0.3%, to $1,001.40 an ounce, trading between $988.50 and $1,004.30.
- Palladium for December delivery surged $31.60 to $656.40 an ounce, ranging from $617.15 to $657.55. Gains were attributed to positive news about Ford vehicle sales, which raised demand expectations (palladium is used in catalytic converters).
The pair of metals last week logged increases of 2.4% and 1.4%.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold declined $19.75, or 1.5%, to $1,283.05 an ounce.
- Silver fell 8 cents, or 0.4%, to $18.22 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last week, London metal prices advanced by 2.3% for gold, 3.9% for silver, 3.2% for platinum and 1.5% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint bullion products registered a daily gain of 6,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 150,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion coins with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | Oct Sales | Nov Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | – | 20,000 | |||
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 5,500 | 23,000 | 100,500 | 22,000 | 687,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 3,000 | 67,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 16,000 | 4,000 | 136,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 10,000 | 10,000 | 75,000 | 15,000 | 790,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 7,500 | 28,500 | 4,500 | 182,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 150,000 | 370,000 | 3,825,000 | 370,000 | 34,770,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 105,000 | |||
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 75,000 | |||
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 200 | 0 | 36,500 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 300 | 3,100 | 300 | 32,900 |
Gold is down and stocks are up for the same reason: Trump, aka “The Duck”, is going away.
Let’s hope gold continues it’s path down until after Nov. 17, when the gold commemorative Walking Liberty Half is released.
BTW – why was the gold commemorative Kennedy Half Dollar 3/4 oz., while the Walker is only 1/2 oz.?
Anybody feel like chiming in on this one…?