Gold dropped toward a one-month Tuesday while silver and platinum extended their losing streaks to two sessions. Palladium was an outlier, surging 1.4%.
Gold futures for December delivery declined $22.70, or 1.6%, to close at $1,364 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement price was the lowest since August 15.
"The gold price has come under pressure in response to the latest signs of de-escalation in the Syrian crisis," Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt said in a report according to Bloomberg News. "The possibility of the Fed already scaling back its bond purchases following the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting next week has also not been excluded, which would weigh on the gold price."
Gold prices ranged from an intraday low of $1,357.60 to a high of $1,391.40. The precious metals tipped 20 cents higher in the prior session.
Silver futures for December delivery plunged 70.1 cents, or 3%, to $23.02 an ounce, ranging from $22.84 to $23.82. The closing price was the lowest since August 21. Silver prices dropped 0.7% on Monday.
In rounding out precious metals futures in New York:
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October platinum shed $8.90, or 0.6%, to $1,474.10 an ounce, trading between $1,471 and $1,488.80. Prices slipped 0.9% on Monday.
- Palladium for December delivery rallied $9.65 to $692.65 an ounce, ranging from $684.20 to $696.55. Palladium fell 2% on Monday when it logged its seventh decline in eight sessions.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metal turned lower. When comparing the Monday PM to Tuesday PM London fix prices:
- Gold lost $31.75, or 2.3%, to $1,358.25 an ounce,
- Silver fell 32 cents, or 1.4%, to $23.32 an ounce,
- Platinum declined $19, or 1.3%, to $1,471 an ounce, and
- Palladium shed $4, or 0.6%, to $690 an ounce
U.S. Mint Bullion Sales in September
Bullion sales for United States Mint gold coins rose by 1,000 ounces with splits of 500 ounces in $5 American Gold Eagles and 500 ounces in $50 American Gold Buffalos.
In coin totals (not ounces) are the latest daily, September and year-to-date U.S. Mint bullion sales:
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | Week-To-Date Sales | September Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 2,500 | 599,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 49,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 102,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 5,000 | 0 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 465,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 500 | 500 | 4,000 | 4,500 | 194,500 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 500 | 500 | 31,700 |
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23,600 |
| Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 500 | 500 | 22,500 |
| Fort McHenry 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 500 | 1,700 | 2,200 | 12,500 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 675,000 | 468,000 | 1,143,000 | 34,218,000 |
