In precious metals on Wednesday, gold notched its third loss in four sessions, while silver, platinum and palladium gained. Silver marked another, almost two-month high.
Gold for June delivery — the new, most-active contract — slipped $5.90, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,984.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Risk appetite is slowly creeping back into the marketplace this week. That’s bearish for the safe-haven metals. A firmer U.S. dollar index on this day is also negative for the metals markets," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $1,976.40 and $1,993.20. The most active gold contract gained 1% on Tuesday and dropped 1.5% on Monday. As recently as Thursday, the price of gold reached $1,995.90 an ounce, logging its highest settlement since March 10, 2022.
Rising for the fifth time in six sessions, silver for May delivery rose 4.6 cents, or 0.2%, to end at $23.466 an ounce. The settlement was the highest since Feb. 2. Silver futures ranged from $23.20 to $23.56. They advanced 1.2% on Tuesday and they shed 0.8% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
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July platinum moved up $5.50, or 0.6%, to $977.40 an ounce, trading between $959.20 and $981.10.
- Palladium for June delivery tacked on $22.40, or 1.6%, to $1,437.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,404.50 to $1,451.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Wednesday. 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | January Sales | February | March | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 107,500 | 26,000 | 118,000 | 41,500 | 183,500 | 343,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 46,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 62,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 84,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 115,000 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 210,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 38,500 | 9,500 | 59,000 | 19,500 | 67,000 | 145,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 450,000 | 0 | 3,949,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 5,749,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 7,500 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 7,500 | 7,500 |
Great balls of fire!