Precious metals futures posted gains Wednesday as strength in the U.S. dollar eased. Gold ended higher for the first time in five sessions and silver recorded its best price in about 14 weeks.
Gold for April delivery added $7.70, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,233.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The precious metals are momentarily disconnected from their usual correlations with outside markets," MarketWatch quoted Michael Armbruster, principal and co-founder at Altavest. "It could be that gold’s strength is evidence of skepticism of the sustainability of the stock market’s melt-up."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,217.50 to a high of $1,234.30. They marked losses of less than 0.1% on Tuesday and 0.8% on Monday.
In related bullion news, a U.S. Labor Department report showed inflation climbed higher than expected in January. Historically, gold has been sought as a hedge against inflation but the faster pace is also counteracting with heightened expectations of quicker Fed tightening.
Ending higher for the fourth time in five sessions, silver for March delivery rose 7.4 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.963 an ounce. The settlement is the highest since since Nov. 10. Silver futures traded between $17.75 and $17.97.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
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April platinum gained $7.70, or 0.8%, to $1,009.90 an ounce, ranging from $990.40 to $1,011.50.
- Palladium for March delivery moved up $5.30, or 0.7%, to $786.20 an ounce, trading between $776.80 and $791.45.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $6.35, or 0.5%, to $1,224.40 an ounce.
- Silver fell 2.5 cents, or 0.1%, to $17.88 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 2017
U.S. Mint bullion sales rose by 25,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of 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 | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | 2017 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 4,000 | 86,500 | 15,500 | 102,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 19,000 | 4,000 | 23,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36,000 | 0 | 36,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 125,000 | 15,000 | 140,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 4,000 | 32,000 | 11,500 | 43,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 25,000 | 250,000 | 310,000 | 5,127,500 | 560,000 | 5,687,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 17,700 | 0 | 100 | 17,700 | 17,700 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | |||||
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | |||||
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | 800 | – | |||
| 2016 Fort Moultrie 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Effigy appears to be a dud with the bullion boys.
I’ll bet we see similar results in the P version.