Precious metals futures changed little Wednesday, though gold and silver did post a second day of declines.
Gold for December delivery shed $2.10, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,253.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold prices were trading modestly lower in early afternoon U.S. trading Wednesday, in the aftermath of the September FOMC minutes report that did not contain significant markets-moving details," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "The precious metals were weighed down by the recent solid rally in the U.S. dollar index, which hit a seven-month high today.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,251.20 to a high of $1,260.50. They dipped 0.4% on Tuesday and climbed 0.7% on Monday.
Elsewhere, silver for December settled down less than a half penny to $17.505 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $17.38 and $17.64. They fell 0.9% in the previous session and advanced 1.6% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
January platinum lost $7.90, or 0.8%, to $941.90 an ounce, ranging from $941 to $955.10.
- Palladium for December delivery rose 95 cents, or 0.2%, to $649.10 an ounce, trading between $645.75 and $656.50.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold gained $3.05, or 0.2%, to $1,256.60 an ounce.
- Silver fell 4 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.44 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 products advanced with Wednesday sales of 7,500 ounces in gold coins and 1,500 ounces in silver coins.
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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Sept Sales | Oct Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | – | 20,000 | ||||
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 3,500 | 42,000 | 9,000 | 79,000 | 51,000 | 616,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 3,000 | 59,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 16,000 | 8,000 | 124,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 10,000 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 85,000 | 25,000 | 725,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,500 | 8,000 | 2,500 | 17,500 | 10,500 | 159,200 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,405,000 | 545,000 | 1,675,000 | 1,950,000 | 32,525,500 |
| 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 | 200 | 0 | 36,300 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 300 | 1,000 | 800 | 2,000 | 1,800 | 31,300 |
