Precious metals futures ended divided on Tuesday. Gold and silver posted a second straight day of losses while platinum and palladium advanced. Gold ended at a more than six-month low.
Gold for August delivery dropped $9, or 0.7%, to finish at $1,259.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since Dec. 15.
"Despite the threat of a major world trade war on the horizon, the marketplace is not seeing keen risk aversion — at least not enough to boost the safe-haven metals," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "Instead, gold and silver are following their raw commodity counterparts lower on worries of less world trade in raw commodities if a full blown trade war breaks out between the U.S. and the other major economies of the world."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,256.40 to a high of $1,269.40. They dipped 0.1% on Monday.
Elsewhere, silver for July delivery declined 7.8 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $16.25 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $16.14 and $16.35. They lost 0.8% on Monday.
In rounding out precious metals futures trading:
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July platinum rose $2.50, or 0.3%, to $871.30 an ounce, ranging from $859.40 to $872.30.
- Palladium for September delivery jumped $19.30, or 2.1%, to $954.70 an ounce, trading between $925.30 and $958.50.
Last week, platinum fell 1.6% and palladium tumbled 3.6%.
London Precious Metals Prices
LBMA bullion prices are available on the LBMA website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
United States Mint bullion sales were limited to American Eagle gold and silver coins. The gold pieces advanced by a combined 6,000 ounces. Silver Eagles moved up by 95,000.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / This Week | Last Week | May | June | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 30,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 5,500 | 0 | 18,500 | 16,500 | 82,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 17,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 18,000 | 4,000 | 48,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 15,000 | 125,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 16,500 | 6,000 | 53,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 95,000 | 215,000 | 380,000 | 435,000 | 6,822,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 |
| Apostle Islands 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 |
| Voyageurs 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 28,900 | 0 | 28,900 | 28,900 |
