Gold futures advanced in their start to the new trading year on Monday after falling 10.5% in 2015 for a third straight annual loss.
Gold for February delivery tacked on $15, or 1.4%, to settle at $1,075.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is benefiting from a flight to safety," with the "weekend increase in tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia…likely driving this flow of capital," MarketWatch quoted Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
The settlement marked a second consecutive session increase and the highest closing price since Dec. 24. Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,061 to a high of $1,083.
In other precious metals futures on Monday:
-
April platinum fell $8.70, or 1%, to $884.50 an ounce, ranging from $874.70 to $894.40.
- Palladium for March delivery declined $17.80, or 3.2%, to $544.20 an ounce, trading between $538.85 and $563.30.
Silver for March delivery gained 3.8 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $13.841 an ounce. Silver prices traded from $13.80 to $14.19.
In 2015, the three metals dived with losses totaling 11.5% for silver, 26.2% for platinum and 29.6% for palladium.
London Precious Metals Prices
UK markets had been closed since Thursday morning. When comparing those AM precious metals prices to the PM prices on Monday:
- Gold added $19.75, or 1.9%, to $1,082.25 an ounce.
- Silver added 18 cents, or 1.3%, to $14 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last year, London precious metals prices logged declines of 11.4% for gold, 13.5% for silver, 27.9% for platinum and 31.5% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
United States Mint bullion sales will blast off next Monday, Jan. 11, when newly 2016-coins become available. Most of the 2015-dated issues sold out with product series scoring multi-year highs, like American Gold Buffalo and ATB five ounce silver coins, and an annual record, like American Silver Eagles.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) have sold out.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday / This Week | Last Week | Dec Sales | 2015 Sales | Jan / 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins* | N/A | N/A | N/A | 626,500 | N/A |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 75,000 | 0 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins* | N/A | N/A | N/A | 158,000 | N/A |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins* | N/A | N/A | N/A | 980,000 | N/A |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | 220,500 | 0 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins* | N/A | N/A | 2,333,500 | 47,000,000 | N/A |
| 2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Coins* | N/A | 35,000 | N/A | ||
| 2015 Kisatchie 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 42,000 | ||||
| 2015 Blue Ridge Parkway 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 45,000 | ||||
| 2015 Bombay Hook 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 45,000 | ||||
| 2015 Saratoga 5 Oz Silver Coins* | N/A | 9,200 | 45,000 | ||
I am surprised that gold didn’t go higher today with the crazy China stock market mini-crash & the crazy serious Saudi Arabia/Iran political situation! It will be very interesting to see what gold does tomorrow on the New York futures market & the London p.m. spot fix price for sure. Any “gold bugs” out their with opinions on this subject?
-NumisDudeTX
I predict stocks will go back up and gold will come back down.