Although gold and silver ended down from earlier highs that came after the release of U.S. inflation data for March, precious metals moved ahead together on Wednesday. Notably, silver still managed to hit a fresh, almost one-year high.
Gold for June delivery tacked on $5.90, or 0.3%, to settle at $2,024.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Some profit-taking pressure from the shorter-term futures traders kicked in after both metals [gold and silver] touched 13-month highs in the immediate aftermath of a tamer U.S. inflation report this morning,” Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that consumer prices rose by 0.1% in March, which is a decrease from February’s increase of 0.4%. Annual inflation also eased to 5% from 6%. The core rate for the month was 0.4%, down from 0.5%, while the year-on-year level increased slightly to 5.6% from 5.5%.
"The risks of not raising rates enough far exceeds over-tightening so the Fed is probably going to go forward with the quarter-point rate hike, the core justifies it," Reuters quoted Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA. "There’s still a tremendous amount of risk on the table, so gold should still see some strong flows headed its way."
Gold futures traded between $2,015.70 and $2,043.90, following 0.8% rise on Tuesday and a 1.1% fall on Monday. One week prior, on Tuesday, gold ended at $2,038.20 per ounce, marking its highest settlement since March 8, 2022.
Meanwhile, silver for May delivery advanced 27.2 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $25.458 an ounce, which is the highest since April 18, 2022. Silver futures traded between $25.17 and $25.83, following a 1.1% climb on Tuesday and a 0.7% slip on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
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July platinum added $22.40, or 2.2%, to $1,027.50 an ounce, trading within a range of $1,004.10 to $1,034.
- Palladium for June delivery added $12.30, or 0.9%, to $1,455.90 an ounce, with a trading range of $1,433.50 to $1,468.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
There were no changes in the published U.S. Mint bullion sales on Wednesday. The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | January Sales | February | March | April | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 53,500 | 56,500 | 118,000 | 41,500 | 211,000 | 74,500 | 445,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 54,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 62,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 94,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 115,000 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 240,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,500 | 25,500 | 59,000 | 19,500 | 73,000 | 35,000 | 186,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,949,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 450,000 | 6,199,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 7,500 | 500 | 8,000 |
