Precious metals declined Wednesday, led by silver which marked its lowest close in sixteen weeks. Gold, meanwhile, dropped from a more than one-week high.
Gold for February delivery — the new, most active contract — dropped $13, or 1%, to $1,286.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close is the lowest since Nov. 21.
"This drop in gold came when GDP surprised to the upside, the dollar started to rally and yields moved higher," Reuters quoted Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke said. "The drop in physical demand has made gold very, very sensitive to the U.S. dollar and U.S. bond yields. There is basically nothing else that is driving the gold market this year."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,288.60 to a high of $1,300.40. They edged up less than 0.1% on Tuesday, logging their best settlement since Nov. 17, and gained 0.6% on Monday.
Elsewhere, silver for March delivery — the new, most active contract — lost 35.7 cents, or 2.1%, to settle at $16.561 an ounce. The settlement is the weakest since Aug. 8, when prices ended at $16.389 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.55 to $16.97. They declined 1.2% on Tuesday and edged up 0.2% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
January platinum stepped back $11.60, or 1.2%, to $941.20 an ounce, trading between $940.30 and $955.70.
- Palladium for March delivery fell $12.15, or 1.2%, to $1,008.50 an ounce, ranging from $1,006.50 to $1,023.80.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $8, or 0.6%, to 1,283.85 an ounce.
- Silver fell 17.5 cents, or 1%, to $16.895 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2017
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. 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) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | October | November | YTD | |
$100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
$25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 |
$50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 2,500 | 11,000 | 9,500 | 190,500 |
$25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 34,000 |
$10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 60,000 |
$5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 10,000 | 370,000 |
$50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 7,000 | 2,000 | 85,500 |
$1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 30,000 | 90,000 | 1,040,000 | 385,000 | 17,323,500 |
2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 |
2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
2017 George Rogers Clark 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 0 | N/A | 32,400 | 32,400 |