In precious metals Wednesday, prices for gold and palladium increased while those for silver and platinum declined. Gold marked the day with another, just over 8-month high.
Logging its third advance in four sessions, gold for February delivery rose $2.40, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,878.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was gold’s best since ending at $1,882.80 an ounce on May 6.
"Positioning ahead of a key U.S. inflation report was featured at mid-week," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
"The CPI headline number is expected to come in at up 6.5%, year-on-year, which compares to the 7.1% rise reported in the November report. A bigger miss to the upside or downside on the CPI headline number would very likely significantly move many markets."
Gold futures traded between $1,870.90 and $1,890.90. They dipped 0.07% on Tuesday and they rose 0.4% on Monday.
Falling for a third straight day, silver for March delivery declined 18.4 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $23.481 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $23.34 to $24.19. They gave back 0.9% on Tuesday and they dipped 0.5% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum fell $4.20, or 0.4%, to $1,084.30 an ounce, ranging from $1,078.80 to $1,117.
- Palladium for March delivery rose $3.80, or 0.2%, to $1,781.10 an ounce, trading between $1,746.50 and $1,793.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published United States Mint bullion sales changed for the first time since Dec. 29. Advances included a combined:
- 127,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles,
- 44,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and
- 3,449,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | September | October | November | December | 2022 Sales | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 47,500 | 47,500 | 59,500 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 850,000 | 87,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 | 33,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 0 | 140,000 | 50,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 20,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 0 | 0 | 575,000 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 22,500 | 44,500 | 39,500 | 4,500 | 0 | 410,000 | 44,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 850,000 | 833,000 | 1,258,000 | 1,407,000 | 59,000 | 15,963,500 | 3,499,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 0 |
