Gold Gains 1.5% and Silver Advances 2.1% After ECB Cuts Rates

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Gold Bars and Euro Coins
Bullion rebounded Thursday to recover a portion of prior-day losses

Gold, silver and other precious metals on Thursday bounced back from heavy losses in the previous session. News of the European Central Bank cutting interest rates for the first time in 10 months and to a record low of 0.5% was seen as bullish for commodities.

"The more quantitative easing, the weaker the dollar becomes and gold will benefit from these economic policies," MarketWatch quoted David Beahm, executive vice president at precious-metal investment firm Blanchard & Co.

Gold for June delivery advanced $21.40, or 1.5%, to $1,467.60 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Gold prices traded from an intraday low of $1,448.10 to a high of $1,473.30. The precious metal fell $25.90, or 1.8%, on Wednesday.

"Gold decided to act more like a raw commodity than a safe-haven asset Thursday, as the raw commodity sector showed good price gains amid an improved investor risk appetite on this given day," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc., said in the daily PM Kitco Metals Roundup.

"An interest rate cut by the European Central Bank Thursday morning added to bullish sentiment in the raw commodity sector."

Silver for July delivery rebounded 48.7 cents, or 2.1%, to end at $23.83 an ounce. Prices traded through a range of $23.37 and $24.19. Silver plummeted in the prior session by 84.2 cents, or 3.5%.

In other precious metals futures Thursday:

  • July platinum gained $30.70, or 2.1%, to $1,500.20 an ounce, ranging from $1,462.00 to $1,501.80. It dropped 2.5% on Wednesday.

  • Palladium for June delivery added $8.55, or 1.3%, to $693.30 an ounce, trading between $682.95 and $695.85. It declined 1.9% in the previous session.

London Fix Precious Metals

Earlier London fixed precious metals were mixed to unchanged. In contrasting the Wednesday PM to Thursday PM London fixings:

  • Gold rose $14.50, or 1.0%, to $1,469.25 an ounce,
  • Silver lost 28.0 cents, or 1.2%, to $23.69 an ounce,
  • Platinum gained $7.00, or 0.5%, to $1,487.00 an ounce, and
  • Palladium remained at $688.00 an ounce

US Bullion Coin Sales in May

Sales levels were unchanged Thursday for United States Mint bullion coins. The following are daily, May and year-to-date bullion coin totals as reported by the U.S. Mint.

American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coin Sales
  Thursday Sales Last Week Week-To-Date May Sales YTD Sales
$50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins 0 38,000 11,000 10,000 444,000
$25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins 0 3,000 0 0 40,000
$10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins 0 4,000 0 0 72,000
$5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins* 0 5,000 0 0 300,000
$50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins 0 14,500 2,500 1,500 133,500
American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins 0 845,000 855,000 0 18,310,000

 

*The United States Mint has temporarily suspended sales of its smallest American Gold Eagle until inventories are replenished. The Mint ran out of them on April 22.

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Coin Monger

Gold as a commodity kept up with inflation until recently. Now it is considerably lower than its inflation price would suggest. By keeping up with inflation, it should be $2000 an oz. Silver’s even worse. It should be close to $100 an oz.