Precious metals finished lower Wednesday for a third day in a row this week. Gold ended at a four-week low and silver settled at a seven-week low.
Gold for April delivery dropped $14.90, or 1.1%, to close at $1,314.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since Jan. 9 when prices ended at $1,313.70 an ounce.
"It is hard to say where gold goes from here given that direction in the U.S. stock market remains unclear despite Tuesday’s impressive recovery," MarketWatch quoted Edward Meir, an independent commodity consultant at INTL FCStone.
"All we can say is that gold did not particularly perform well when stocks were melting down, while seeming to crumble rather effortlessly in the aftermath of Tuesday’s sharp rally."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,313.50 to a high of $1,334.80. They shed 0.5% on Tuesday and dipped less than 0.1% on Monday.
Silver for March delivery tumbled 34.2 cents, or 2.1%, to settle at $16.238 an ounce. The close was the lowest since Dec. 19 when the precious metal finished at $16.153 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.21 to $16.73. They shed 0.6% on Tuesday and lost 0.2% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum declined $12.60, or 1.3%, to $981.70 an ounce, trading between $980 and $998.
- Palladium for March delivery fell $17.95, or 1.8%, to $984.55 an ounce, ranging from $976 to $1,011.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $6.75, or 0.5%, to $1,324.65 an ounce.
- Silver fell 11.5 cents, or 0.7%, to $16.69 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | 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 |
