Reversing positions from a day earlier, precious metals divided Tuesday with gold and silver higher and platinum and palladium lower. Gains for the pair of metals were modest, each up 0.1%, and their first in four sessions. They follow U.S. inflation data which registered higher than expected.
Gold for April delivery rose $1.90 to settle at $1,865.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures traded between $1,852.50 and $1,881.60. They lost 0.6% on Monday, closing at their lowest price since Jan. 5.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased 0.5% in January after rising 0.1% in December, with annual inflation easing to 6.4% from 6.5%. Many economists expected a 6.2% annual inflation rate.
Silver for March delivery edged up 2.1 cents to finish at $21.873 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $21.58 and $22.04. They fell 1% on Monday, logging their weakest settlement since Nov. 30.
In other precious metals prices Tuesday:
-
April platinum declined $20.20, or 2.1%, to $939.20 an ounce, ranging from $931.80 to $964.30.
- Palladium for March delivery fell $70.30, or 4.6%, to $1,466.20 an ounce, trading between $1,515 and $1,564.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Monday and Tuesday. 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) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January Sales | Last Week | February | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 118,000 | 9,000 | 9,000 | 127,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 37,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 38,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 62,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 64,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 115,000 | 65,000 | 65,000 | 180,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 59,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 64,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 3,949,000 | 450,000 | 450,000 | 4,399,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Wonder why the sudden drop. From $25 for silver to $21. Took weeks to creep up and seconds to collapse. Inflation was up 6.2% for January. Only 500k jobs created, but with over 47 million. Quitting and not looking for work since 2021 alone, it isn’t a lot. Hoe many are people taking a second part time job because they can’t get a full time one? I hate the system they use to determine unemployment. It is almost as bad as the formula for inflation which excludes 99% of everything we use.
Not that long ago, the palladium coin was 1200 and 1300. Then went to 2700 I think. Not sure what it is now. As part of the platinum family supposed to be rarer than gold. Ruthenium and I wanna say rhodium are rarer. But much harder to work. Malate, hmmm. How do you say malleable in that sentence. Much harder to mal___