Precious metals futures ended lower Tuesday for a second day this week. Gold settled at a near three-week low while silver closed at an almost seven-week low.
Gold for April delivery declined $7, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,329.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the weakest since Jan. 18.
"When the dollar and Treasury yields went up, gold had no place to go and it wasn’t the safe haven that everybody was looking forward to. When the stock market sold off, the dollar seemed to be getting all the activity instead of gold," Reuters quoted Walter Pehowich, executive vice president of investment services at Dillon Gage Metals.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,328.40 to a high of $1,349.30. They dipped less than 0.1% on Monday.
Silver for March delivery fell 9.1 cents, or nearly 0.6%, to settle at $16.58 an ounce. The close was the lowest since Dec. 22. Silver futures ranged from $16.54 to $16.96. They lost 0.2% on Monday.
In rounding out precious metals futures:
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April platinum shed $1.20, or 0.1%, to $994.30 an ounce, trading between $987 and $1,002.90.
- Palladium for March delivery sank $30.45, or 3%, to $1,002.50 an ounce, ranging from $997.20 to $1,028.15.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold declined $2.20, or 0.2%, to $1,331.40 an ounce.
- Silver fell 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $16.805 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Last Week | This Week | December | January | February | 2018 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 500 | 38,000 | 36,000 | 1,500 | 37,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 16,000 | 0 | 16,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 26,000 | 0 | 26,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 25,000 | 80,000 | 0 | 80,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 500 | 14,000 | 24,000 | 1,500 | 25,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 140,000 | 225,000 | 742,000 | 3,235,000 | 225,000 | 3,460,000 |
