Precious metals moved lower Thursday. Gold retreated the least, slipping 0.3%, while palladium dropped the most, falling 1.7%.
Gold for December delivery settled down $4.50 to $1,811.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The gold market right now is consolidating and does not care about anything else until the jobs number comes up," Reuters quoted Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures in Chicago.
The U.S. Labor Department will release the non-farm payrolls report for August on Friday.
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,806.50 to a high of $1,819.60. They shed 0.1% on Wednesday, they rose 0.3% on Tuesday, marking an August increase of 0.05%, and they dipped 0.4% on Monday.
Silver for December delivery fell 30.3 cents, or 1.3%, to settle at $23.918 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $23.81 and $24.28. They rose 0.9% on Wednesday, they ended unchanged Tuesday, registering a 6% monthly decline, and they — like gold — slipped 0.4% on Monday.
In other precious metals futures Thursday:
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October platinum slipped $5.40, or 0.5%, to $994.20 an ounce, ranging from $986 to $1,006.80.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $41.10 to $2,400.40 an ounce, trading between $2,381 and $2,446.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Thursday. 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday / September | Last Week | This Week | June | July | August | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 17,000 | 11,500 | 158,000 | 49,500 | 112,000 | 746,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 21,000 | 77,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 28,000 | 30,000 | 0 | 34,000 | 120,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 90,000 | 40,000 | 50,000 | 330,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 4,500 | 27,500 | 14,500 | 27,500 | 235,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 775,000 | 750,000 | 2,800,000 | 3,104,000 | 3,930,000 | 22,940,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
