Gold Ends at 1-Year High; 2016 Silver Eagles Hit 11M

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Small Gold Bullion Bars
Precious metals futures settled higher Thursday

Precious metal futures advanced Thursday, registering gains ranging from 0.7% for platinum to 5.2% for palladium. Gold jumped 1.3%, ending at its best price in a year.

Gold for April delivery added $16.40 to close at $1,258.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Feb. 5, 2015 when gold finished at $1,262.70 an ounce.

"Weaker U.S. stock indexes and a sell-off in the U.S. dollar index were bullish elements for the precious metal on this day," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "A firmly bullish near-term technical posture for gold continues to invite chart-based buying interest."

Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,238 to a high of $1,261.30 after rising 0.9% in the prior session. They are up 3.1% on the week.

Silver for May delivery gained 12.4 cents, or 0.8%, to close at $15.146 an ounce — the highest settlement since one week ago. Silver prices traded between $14.86 and $15.23. They advanced 1.8% on Wednesday.

In other precious futures on Thursday:

  • April platinum rose $6.50 to close at $942.70 an ounce, ranging from $932.30 to $952.10.

  • Palladium for June delivery added $26.90 to settle at $542.20 an ounce, trading between $512.70 and $544.20.

London Precious Metals Prices

Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices were mixed for a second day in a row. In comparing their levels from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:

  • Gold added $11.05, or 0.9%, to $1,250.25 an ounce.
  • Silver fell 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $14.79 an ounce.

LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.

US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016

United States Mint bullion sales were limited to American Silver Eagles. This week, the U.S. Mint limited sales of the silver coins to 1 million in total. The last of those were taken on Thursday and no more will be available until next Monday. Their cumulative total is at 11 million coins since launching on Jan. 11. Last year’s 2015-dated Silver Eagle ended at a record 47 million coins, with sales through Mar. 3, 2015 reaching 9,118,000 coins.

Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.

US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins)
Thursday Sales Last Week This Week Jan Sales Feb Sales Mar Sales 2016 Sales
$50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins 0 6,000 9,000 89,000 67,500 0 156,500
$25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins 0 1,000 0 23,000 6,000 0 29,000
$10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins 0 2,000 2,000 36,000 12,000 0 48,000
$5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins 0 25,000 25,000 145,000 100,000 0 245,000
$50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins 0 4,500 2,000 34,000 19,000 0 53,000
$1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins 263,500 1,073,500 1,000,000 5,954,500 4,782,000 263,500 11,000,000
2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins 0 30,000 0 N/A 105,000 0 105,000

 

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Seth Riesling

Mike Unser –

Thanks for the latest stats!
You have the ASE sales column “This Week” as 736,500 instead of 1,000,000.

-NumisDudeTX