Precious metals split in their start to the new trading week on Tuesday following the U.S. Labor Day extended weekend. Gold and palladium declined, for their sixth losses in seven sessions, on the heels of their gains on Friday, while silver and platinum posted increases for a second session in a row.
Gold for December delivery shed $9.70, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,712.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold prices are moderately down in midday U.S. trading Tuesday, while silver prices are just a bit firmer. A strong U.S. dollar index that hit a 20-year high today and a sharp rise in U.S. Treasury yields to start the U.S. trading week are bearish outside market forces working against the metals markets,” Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $1,710.80 and $1,737.40. They lost 1.6% last week, for their third straight weekly drop.
Silver for December delivery edged up 2.7 cents, or 0.2%, to end at $17.908 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $17.81 to $18.47. They sank 4.6% last week, also for their third weekly decline in a row.
In precious metals futures prices on Tuesday:
-
October platinum rose $15.60, or 1.9%, to $833.90 an ounce, ranging from $813.50 to $846.40.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $52.90, or 2.6%, to $1,973.20 an ounce, trading between $1,943 and $2,066.
Last week, platinum fell 4.3% and palladium lost 4.5%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales showed a gain on Tuesday of 11,500 ounces in American Buffalo gold coins. 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 / Sept. |
May | June | July | August* | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 164,500 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 43,500 | 729,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 1,000 | 72,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 50,000 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 540,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 11,500 | 56,000 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 22,500 | 333,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,350,000 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 12,406,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 80,000 |
*On Tuesday, the U.S. Mint adjusted August sales with an increase for American Gold Buffalos to 22,500 ounces from 17,500 ounces.
Gold, Platinum, Palladium, whatever. What matters to us little people is that Silver keeps hanging on for its dear life and that it wouldn’t take much for it to go into free fall.
Indeed, Sir Kaiser. With silver hanging on at $17 per ounce, consider the cost to produce one ounce of silver: Metals Focus’s World Silver Survey 2022 estimates silver’s total cash cost of production at $3.88 per ounce, and all-in sustaining cost of silver production at $10.88 per ounce
Correction: …hanging on at $18 per ounce…
Well, Good Sir Rich, your facts and figures clearly indicate that some people out there must be making a ton of profit on the sales of silver products, and I don’t think I would be foolhardy in making a guess that the Mint is among those entities. But then, no one is bending our arms to buy anything, so it’s a matter of going both for the bargains and also the rest and being satisfied with the overall result.
But Crude Oil is down. That’s good news.
One hundred years ago, a gallon of gasoline was 10 cents. Currently, the national average price is approximately $4.00 per gallon.
Good Sir Rich and Antonio,
I wonder if Putin’s latest threats of taking action to further cut natural gas and oil supplies to Ukraine’s allies and supporters will drive the price of oil and gasoline up again and possibly even more so than before.
Good Sir Rich,
Even as late as 1965, the year I first stepped foot on these shores, gasoline prices were still on average a seemingly paltry 31 cents per gallon. Then again, wages were commensurate, as my first three full-time jobs paid between one and two dollars an hour.
Those were the days…
Good Sir Rich,
What made those days especially fun and uplifting was the arrival of the “Flower Power aka Summer of Love” culture. I came here not knowing what to expect and just so happened to be dropped right into the very beginnings of what was becoming the “Hippie movement.” Peace! 🙂
Yes indeed, Sir Kaiser. Reminds me of those “Dancing Days” —
Dancing days are here again,
As the summer evenings grow.
I got my flower, I got my power,
I got a woman who knows.
Good Sir Rich,
That is the perfect musical portrayal of the days of love and laughter.
Major D,
One possible conclusion that appears to stand out from those figures is that the oil producers are quite a bit greedier than the dairy farmers.
Before ardent refinery admirers take offense, that was tongue in cheek.
Since in well over sixty years of collecting coins, Major D, I haven’t with the exception of one solitary occasion, that of my twentieth wedding anniversary in 2012, purchased even a single coin on the secondary market, I am quite unlikely to benefit from whatever savings happen to appear in that realm. Quite the contrary, my sole source of coinage, the US Mint, is famous (or indeed infamous) for not altering its price structure to follow the direction of the silver market. I realize that my possible peculiarity in this regard may be standing in the way of my currently… Read more »
The 2019 Apollo 5oz proof coin that the mint sold for $230, can be bought at $200 now. Dealers will offer $145. I missed out on that one when it came out. I might need to pick one up. Or the one oz one for $90. Still kicking it around but I think silver will hold up well for now
Silver seems to be the ultimate numismatic equivalent of the two-edged sword, East Coast Guru, because the cheaper it is to buy the less value it has to own or to sell. That being said, it will always be my very favorite precious metal and I would happily fill an entire Olympic-sized swimming pool with it if I had the means (and the pool).