Precious metals declined on Wednesday, the first trading day of February, posting losses ranging from 0.1% for gold to 1.9% for platinum. After-hour dealings saw gold surge following the Fed’s announced hike in interest rates and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference.
Slipping from a near 9.5-month high, gold for April delivery dipped $2.50 to settle at $1,942.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures traded between $1,936.10 and $1,970.80. They rose 0.3% on Tuesday, marking their highest settlement since April 21 and logging a 6.5% gain in January.
In later electronic trading following Fed news, the yellow metal jumped above $1,966.
On Wednesday following a two-day monetary policy meeting, the Fed’s FOMC raised the benchmark federal-funds rate by 0.25% to a range between 4.5% and 4.75%.
Calling Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s later press conference ‘relatively dovish’, Standard Chartered analyst Suki Cooper said, "signaling the path to peak rates and highlighting falling inflation has given gold prices a boost as the USD weakened and real rates eased."
Silver for March delivery shed 22.7 cents, or 1%, to end at $23.609 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $23.44 and $24.15. They climbed 0.4% on Tuesday, and registered a decline in January of 0.9%.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum declined $19.40 to $1,001.70 an ounce, ranging from $997 to $1,023.40.
- Palladium for March delivery fell $15.70, or 1%, to $1,632.60 an ounce, trading between $1,620 and $1,698.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Also on Wednesday, the United States Mint published updated bullion sales for last month. Additions for January include a combined:
- 17,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles,
- 5,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and
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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | November | December | Last Week | This Week | January Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 3,500 | 13,500 | 118,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 37,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 62,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 0 | 9,000 | 5,500 | 59,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,407,000 | 59,000 | 0 | 0 | 3,949,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Guess we’ll have to wait for tomorrow for it to go up again.
That may well be the case, Antonio, but gold is still beating the pants off palladium.
Kinda like Groundhog Day.
It’s deja vu all over again.