Gold Logs Third Daily Decline; Silver Closes at 8.5-Month Low

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Silver bullion bars,5.45 oz
Silver futures ended at their lowest level since April 8

Precious metals futures posted mostly modest declines Thursday. Gold, down for a third straight day, neared a more than 10.5-month low while silver, off for a second day in a row, registered its lowest price in 8.5 months.

Gold for February delivery gave up $2.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,130.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"Despite the current retreat in the dollar, traders have already positioned themselves for a neutral to lower end of the year for gold, with the next support level in the $1,123 area, as the focus remains on the hawkish message of the Fed, which signaled three rate increases in 2017," Reuters quoted ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto de Casa.

Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,128.60 to a high of $1,135.50. They slipped less than 0.1% on Wednesday, shed 0.8% on Tuesday, and climbed 0.5% on Monday. A week ago, prices settled at $1,129.80 an ounce to mark their lowest close since Feb. 2. Gold is poised for a seventh weekly loss, although prices are still 6.7% higher year to date.

Silver for March delivery fell 10.8 cents, or 0.7%, to finish at $15.871 an ounce. The settlement is the weakest since April 8 when the precious metal ended at $15.384 an ounce.

Silver futures traded between $15.83 and $16.09. They dropped 0.9% on Wednesday, rose 0.2% on Tuesday, and fell 0.8% on Monday.

In other precious metals dealings:

  • January platinum declined $7, or 0.8%, to $907.40 an ounce, ranging from $906.70 to $921.

  • Palladium for March delivery fell $3.30, or 0.5%, to $656.60 an ounce, trading between $652.15 and $663.45.

London Precious Metals Prices

In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:

  • Gold lost $2.30, or 0.2%, to $1,131.35 an ounce.
  • Silver fell 26 cents, or 1.6%, to $15.77 an ounce.

LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.

US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016

United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 3:12 p.m. ET. The Mint’s most popular 2016-dated bullion coins have sold out. New 2017-dated issues will go on sale Jan. 9.

Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.

US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins)
Thursday Sales Last Week This Week Nov Sales Dec Sales 2016 Sales
$100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* 20,000
$50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins* 129,000 23,000 817,500
$25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins 0 1,000 0 7,000 3,000 74,000
$10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins* 18,000 2,000 152,000
$5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins* 105,000 40,000 925,000
$50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins 0 4,500 2,500 29,500 12,500 219,500
$1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins* 3,061,000 240,000 37,701,500
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 0 1,500 100 38,100
2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins* 6,600 800 40,000
2016 Fort Moultrie 5 Oz Silver Coins 0 0 0 27,800 0 27,800

 

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Jp

I’m still feeling gold will hit the $1100- $11- teens mark to bottom out.
I don’t understand why silver is so low though. Any thoughts anyone?

Ken T

JP– The price of silver is FAKE. The major banks (mostly JP Morgan) hold most of the short positions. They continually sell millions of ounces on the market every time silver tries to go up in price. For over 6000 years, the price of silver has been around 20 to 35 times cheaper than gold. At today’s gold prices, silver should be at $32 to $37 an ounce given this 6000 year old record. The banks don’t like the competition between silver’s real value and their paper money. The market is highly UNREGULATED and MANIPULATED. Silver is trading in the… Read more »

Joe C.

AS the fed says it will raise interest rates, I think gold will go below 1100 and silver will be around 12.00 within the next two months. Just my opinion.

Seth Riesling

Jp –

I love silver in all its forms & always have since I was young. The shine of silver is beautiful. Gold is great to hold for major economic downturns of course. But, silver is so very plentiful. Mexico has the largest silver mine in the world & they can’t even sell all they mine each year because there is already so much sliver above ground around the world already!

-NumisDudeTX