In precious metals prices Thursday, platinum declined while gold, silver and palladium gained. Gold marked a nine-month settlement high.
Up following two straight losses which brought prices down from their previous, nearly nine-month high, gold for February delivery tacked on $16.90, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,923.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was gold’s best since it ended at $1,934.30 an ounce on April 22.
"There is flight to safety. Gold just seems to do better when markets are declining," Reuters quoted Jeffrey Sica, chief executive officer of Circle Squared Alternative Investments.
"The U.S. dollar is weakening and that’s one of the reasons why we’re seeing the rally in gold, which I think is going to just accelerate from here."
Gold futures traded between $1,902 and $1,936.90. They dipped 0.2% on Wednesday and they declined 0.6% in the start to the trading week on Tuesday.
Also ending higher after two consecutive losses, silver for March delivery rose 22.3 cents, or 0.9%, to finish at $23.87 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $23.27 and $24.08. They fell 1.8% on Wednesday and they lost 1.3% on Tuesday. On Friday, silver at $24.372 an ounce logged its best finish since April 21.
In other precious metals prices on Thursday:
-
April platinum eased $2.60, or 0.3%, to $1,041.10 an ounce, trading between $1,015 and $1,052.60.
- Palladium for March delivery advanced $62.50, or 3.7%, to $1,768.50 an ounce, ranging from $1,662.50 to $1,777.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged for a second straight day. 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 | November | December | 2022 Sales | Last Week | This Week | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 850,000 | 90,000 | 11,000 | 101,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 | 34,000 | 1,000 | 35,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140,000 | 50,000 | 2,000 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 575,000 | 115,000 | 0 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 0 | 410,000 | 44,000 | 500 | 44,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,407,000 | 59,000 | 15,963,500 | 3,499,000 | 500,000 | 3,949,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
This is why I bought so much gold before 2009.
You get the idea!
But those nice, collectable (desirable) old coins are nice to own for their own sakes. I’m more modest in my collecting requirements. Although, I’m looking forward to the Morgan and Peace dollars coming out this year. That’s what causes me to salivate.