Precious metals fell for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, padding what were already hefty losses in August. Monthly declines for gold and silver were their fifth in a row. Further, silver ended the month at more than two-year low and gold marked about a five-week low.
Gold for December delivery fell $10.10, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,726.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since July 27.
"The gold futures bears have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a three-week-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,780.00. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the July low of $1,686.30," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold prices shed 3.1% in August. They have now dropped a combined $227.80, or 11.7%, through the five monthly declines. The yellow metal is 5.6% lower on the year to date.
Meanwhile, silver for December delivery fell 40.5 cents, or 2.2%, to finish at $17.882 an ounce. The close was the weakest since June 24, 2020. Silver prices sank 11.5% this month, lifting their losses though the five months to $7.25, or 28.9%. They are 23.4% lower on the year.
In PGM futures on Wednesday and for the month:
-
October platinum dipped $5.10, or 0.6%, to end at $827 an ounce, for a decline in August of 7.1%. The day’s settlement was the lowest since July 14.
- Palladium for December delivery shed $8.90, or 0.4%, to end at $2,078.90 an ounce, for a monthly decline of 2.4%.
The two are divided on the year so far with platinum down 14.4% and palladium ahead 8.7%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Wednesday. 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) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | May | June | July | August | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 16,500 | 164,500 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 43,500 | 729,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 1,000 | 72,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50,000 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 540,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 6,500 | 56,000 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 17,500 | 316,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 425,000 | 1,350,000 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 12,406,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 80,000 |
Sad but true, Sir Kaiser. We are back where we were a month ago looking at $1,700 gold and $18 Silver, and wondering if support at those levels would hold. With today’s declines, spot silver closed at $17.98 and spot gold closed at $1,709.
My precious-wannabe
Seems like as long as the dollar keep’s rising and getting stronger, metals just keep dropping. Buy a little bit of your favorite metal once a week and average the cost out. The dollar won’t be going up forever. Interestingly, ASE’s prices still seems to hold steady.
Go figure.
Crude oil is down.
All consequences of the “Everything Bubble” and its inevitable bursting.