Precious metals futures declined on Wednesday, with silver and gold falling the most. Gold’s loss was its second in a row following four straight increases that had lifted prices to a five-week high.
Gold for June delivery — the new, most active contract — lost $17.90, or 1.3%, to settle at $1,330 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since last Thursday, March 22.
"A rebound in the U.S. dollar index at mid-week and an uptick in investor risk appetite today had the sellers of the metals in control," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report.
"There are mounting technical clues the U.S. stock indexes have put in major tops. Such would be a longer-term bullish development for the gold and silver markets, which are a competing asset class with equities," Wyckoff added.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,329.40 to a high of $1,352.20. For the most active contract, they declined 1% on Tuesday, and gained 0.4% on Monday to end at their best level since Feb. 16.
Silver for May delivery dropped 28.8 cents, or 1.7%, to end at $16.253 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.23 to $16.56. They declined 0.9% on Tuesday and rose 0.6% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum shed $5.90, or 0.6%, to $940.80 an ounce, trading between $938.80 and $953.60.
- Palladium for June delivery lost $8.60, or 0.9%, to $963.20 an ounce, ranging from $959.75 to $972.65.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $9, or 0.7%, to $1,332.45 an ounce.
- Silver dropped 18.5 cents, or 1.1%, to $16.455 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 2:48 p.m. ET. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | February | March | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 2,500 | 43,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 95,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,500 | 1,000 | 27,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 195,000 | 285,000 | 942,500 | 915,000 | 5,092,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 |
I don’t understand the meaning of the quote in the article above. How could the sellers of precious metals be “in control” if the values of their products are headed downward? Or does that mean that as the prices drop, interest among buyers will pick up? I’m just not sure.
Old Collector – *you answered your ??! Just not sure, that*s how they like it!Not Sure. But they are in control, because they own it, whether it’s *good or bad.
Joe Brown – I had momentarily forgotten about the Golden Rule: “He who has the Gold makes the Rules.” Thanks for the timely wake-up call! 😉
Great way of putting it! You hit that nail right on, you drove it *flush, *1 shot right down to the wood! :mrgree :
😈
Indeed. That’s something of a companion piece to another obvious fact typically obscured and disguised by the usual application of smoke and mirrors, that the so-called “Federal Reserve” is not now nor ever has been either “federal” or a “reserve”.
Joe Brown, Another great source of ongoing confusion for me regarding precious metal prices is that they are regularly reported/posted in two very distinct and different ways: there is today’s spot price, and then there is the futures price. What makes it so perplexing is that in the first instance the metal in question may indeed have made gains, while in the latter reference it could be headed for a loss (or just as easily vice versa, of course), and when you see two headlines posted simultaneously, each proclaiming the results of its own particular pricing scheme, you might just… Read more »
More than likely its *Alice in *Wonderland, & i* would think, the nervous wrack behind the curtain, making all the racket! The *Wizard from the land of *oz him self!*smile.
Maybe the Wizard is in reality a dedicated stacker and all along we’ve been kept in the dark about the fact that “Oz” actually stands for “oz” as in ounces. I guess the Man Behind the Curtain must be kept very busy tallying up his countless piles of one ounce gold and silver pieces, which at long last serves to explain why he so very much just simply wants to be left alone! 😀