Gold Declines, Silver Logs 16-Week Low

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Five gold bullion bars
Losses in precious metals futures ranged from 1% for gold to 2.1% for silver

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
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