Precious metals advanced on Tuesday, the final trading day of January, but only gold gained on the month — its third straight monthly increase following seven consecutive monthly losses. The yellow metal also notched a near 9.5-month high.
Gold for April delivery rose $6.10, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,945.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was gold’s highest since it ended at $1,948.20 an ounce on April 21.
"Gold and silver prices are firmer in midday U.S. trading Tuesday, as traders stepped in to do some perceived bargain hunting on early-session price pullbacks. Trading action is more subdued just ahead of this week’s monetary policy decisions by major central banks," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
The FOMC’s two-day monetary policy meeting began Tuesday.
Gold prices not only scored a more than nine-month high, but they also posted a gain in January of 6.5%.
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery settled up 10.3 cents, or 0.4%, to $23.836 an ounce. Silver prices slipped 0.9% in January.
In other precious metals prices on Tuesday and for the month:
-
April platinum inched up 50 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $1,021.10 an ounce, but sank 5.7% in January.
- Palladium for March delivery tacked on $20.30, or 1.3%, to end at $1,648.30 an ounce, but dropped 8.3% on the month.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published United States Mint bullion sales last changed on Jan. 23. Combined sales for the month include:
- 146,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles,
- 53,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and
- 3,949,000 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / Week | November | December | 2022 Sales | Last Week | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 850,000 | 3,500 | 104,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140,000 | 0 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 575,000 | 0 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 0 | 410,000 | 9,000 | 53,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,407,000 | 59,000 | 15,963,500 | 0 | 3,949,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 0 | 0 |
They heard me and had some Swiss bars put there. 😉
But they were delicious, weren’t they? 😉