Precious metals declined on Monday as stocks and the U.S. dollar gained. Gold lost most of its prior-session gain while silver extended its losing streak to four sessions in a row.
Gold for February delivery declined $4.60, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,277.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"In the early hours of Saturday morning, the U.S. Senate then passed a tax reform bill that envisages extensive tax cuts," Bloomberg News quoted at Commerzbank AG including Eugen Weinberg said in an emailed note. "Market participants regained their risk appetite as a result, so the gold price fell accordingly."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,273.50 to a high of $1,280.50. They dipped 0.4% last week.
Silver for March delivery shed 1.5 cents, or nearly 0.1%, to close at $16.373 an ounce. The settlement remains the weakest since Aug. 7 when prices ended at $16.251 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.26 to $16.46. They tumbled 3.6% last week.
In rounding out precious metals action:
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January platinum dropped $14.60, or 1.6%, to $926 an ounce, trading between $924.30 and $939.20.
- Palladium for March delivery sank $24.50, or 2.4%, to $991.75 an ounce, ranging from $988.50 to $1,017.15.
Last week, platinum declined 0.5% and palladium jumped 2.3%.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold declined $2.05, or 0.2%, to 1,273.45 an ounce.
- Silver fell 9 cents, or 0.6%, to $16.33 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last week in London bullion prices, gold declined 1.2%, silver fell 3.7%, platinum shed 0.1%, and palladium gained 1.5%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2017
United States Mint bullion sales advanced by a combined 2,000 ounces in American Eagle and Buffalo gold coins and by 110,000 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | November | December | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 9,500 | 0 | 190,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 34,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 60,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 10,000 | 0 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 380,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 86,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 110,000 | 90,000 | 385,000 | 110,000 | 17,433,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
| 2017 George Rogers Clark 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 32,400 | 0 | 32,400 |
This article was edited to included updated U.S. Mint bullion figures.
