Gold futures extended their losing streak on Thursday to five straight sessions, and closed at a four-month low.
Gold for December delivery fell $15.60, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,253 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since June 7 when gold ended at $1,247 an ounce. A stronger U.S. dollar was attributed to the declines.
"Traders and investors are now awaiting Friday’s U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department, which is arguably the most important economic report of the month," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report.
"An upbeat U.S. jobs report Friday would strongly bolster the case for the Federal Reserve raising interest rates yet this year. However, a miss to the downside on non-farm payrolls would be just what the precious metals bulls need to stop their bleeding," Wyckoff added.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,251.80 to a high of $1,271.60. They are off 4.8% for the week so far.
Lower for a fourth day in a row, silver for December delivery shed 35 cents, or 2%, to settle at $17.345 an ounce. The close is the lowest since June 22 when the precious metal closed at $17.312 an ounce.
Silver futures traded between $17.14 and $17.88. They lost 0.5% in the previous session, sank 5.8% on Tuesday, and gave back 1.8% on Monday. Their week-to-date loss stands at 9.7%.
In rounding out precious metals futures trading:
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January platinum declined $10.30, or 1.1%, to $966.30 an ounce, ranging from $965 to $986.80.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $9.45, or 1.4%, to $666.15 an ounce, trading between $661.50 and $683.85.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold declined $14.90, or 1.2%, to $1,254.50 an ounce.
- Silver slipped 4 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.76 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint bullion sales registered gains on Thursday that total 4,000 ounces in gold coins and 325,000 ounces in silver coins. Bullion coin demand is elevated this week, especially for Silver Eagles.
Silver coin sales at a combined 1.36 million ounces since Monday are already the highest for a week since the one starting Jan. 11 — when the Mint introduced 2016-dated American Silver Eagles and sold 4 million of them. That said, the Mint rationed orders of 2016 Silver Eagles from their release until July 18, limiting their sales to an average of about 1 million coins a week.
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 (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week / Oct | Sept Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | – | 20,000 | ||||
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 3,000 | 11,000 | 24,000 | 22,500 | 79,000 | 587,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 57,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 0 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 16,000 | 118,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 5,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 85,000 | 715,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 4,500 | 3,500 | 17,500 | 152,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 325,000 | 500,000 | 370,000 | 1,355,000 | 1,675,000 | 31,930,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 105,000 | ||||
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 75,000 | ||||
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 200 | 36,300 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | -500 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 30,500 |
