On Thursday, the price of palladium declined, while the prices of gold, silver, and platinum increased, recording gains ranging from less than 0.1% for silver to 0.6% for gold.
Gold for June delivery rose by $11.80 to settle at $2,019.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The precious metals bulls have stabilized their two markets after recent selling pressure. A weaker U.S. dollar index and a decline U.S. Treasury yields today are working in favor of the metals market bulls," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
After losing 0.6% on Wednesday, rising 0.6% on Tuesday, and dropping 0.4% on Monday, gold futures traded today within a range of $2,002.20 to $2,024.20. Notably, last Thursday, gold achieved its highest closing level since August 6, 2020, finishing at $2,055.30 an ounce.
Meanwhile, silver for May delivery edged up 2 cents, or 0.01%, to settle at $25.373 an ounce, following a 0.4% gain on Wednesday, a 0.7% increase on Tuesday, and a 1.5% decrease on Monday. Silver futures ranged from $25.15 to $25.59. Last Thursday, silver ended at $25.925 an ounce, its highest closing price since April 18, 2022.
In other precious metals futures prices on Thursday:
-
July platinum added $1.90, or 0.2%, to $1,107.60 an ounce, trading between $1,094.54 and $1,112.50.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $30.10, or 1.9%, to $1,588.70 an ounce, ranging from $1,575.50 to $1,628.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint published bullion sales were unchanged on Thursday. 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday / This Week | Last Week | January Sales | February | March | April | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 56,500 | 118,000 | 41,500 | 211,000 | 74,500 | 445,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 37,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 54,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 62,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 94,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 115,000 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 240,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 25,500 | 59,000 | 19,500 | 73,000 | 35,000 | 186,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,949,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 450,000 | 6,199,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 7,500 | 500 | 8,000 |
Spot gold closed back above $2,000 today at $2,005.30 per ounce. The battle for gold above the $2,000 danger zone is on.
Just out of curiosity, Good Sir Rich, what does gold’s “$2000 danger zone” mean?
Sir Kaiser, $2,000 gold is an important, psychological level. The historical high for gold is $2,064, which was reached in March, 2021. The gold price zone between $2,000 and $2,064 is dangerous for the gold shorts, not the longs, for if the price breaks out of this zone it will shoot up to a new all-time high. Therefore, the gold cartel (shorts) will do everything in their power to push gold down below $2,000 and keep it contained from breaking out of the $2000 – $2064 price zone. The fighting is like what we saw today with spot gold being… Read more »
Thank you for the explanation, Good Sir Rich; it makes perfect sense to me. However, never being one who would want to be accused of being willing to just leave things alone, I do have to make mention of the fact that the “shorts” seem to occupy a peculiarly parasitic place in the commodities world in that their very fortune depends on everyone else’s misfortune.
Sheesh, I forgot to do my precious metal value direction litany; can’t have that.
Gold rose, silver edged up, platinum added and palladium declined. That’s better.
Incidentally, things do change.
Kaiser,
I vaguely remember silver at $5 and even a little below $5 per ounce sometime in the1990s. The average cost at the time to bring an ounce out of a silver mine at the time was about $5.50 per ounce cost to the mining company. Yet, the U.S. Mint at the time had no problem getting silver planchets from vendors for its ASE $1 coins, the silver coins Proof sets (they started back again in 1992 after a 28 year absence), & its silver commemorative $1 coins.
Times surely have changed in that regard!
NumisdudeTX
In a way, Seth, maybe it makes sense that silver planchets were easier for the Mint to acquire back then due to the fact that since silver was a relatively inexpensive commodity there perhaps wasn’t as much competition for it worldwide.
Kaiser,
Yes, for sure the supply vs demand factor rules.
As I’m sure you know, the U.S. Mint was the last government Mint to still use .900 fine silver planchets that had to be procured at a higher cost due to the planchets being a custom-made item for them. The rest of the Mint’s in the world use .999 fine or .9999 fine silver planchets. The U.S. Mint in all its messy, bureaucratic glory was late to the game & didn’t switch over to .999 fine silver coins till 2019.
NumisdudeTX
So the Mint was essentially paying more money for less silver, Seth, just so it could stick with the old 90% standard of American silver coin minting. As Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh In, “Interesting, but stupid.”
Kaiser,
I remember watching “Laugh In” as a kid. Even though I was ages 6 to 12 during its run & I didn’t understand all the jokes, it was “electric” & eclectic enough to hold my attention. I had such a crush on Goldie Hawn!
NumisdudeTX
Hi Seth, I was 10 when it ended. I recently caught a re-run of it. Saw lots of faces I hadn’t thought of for a while now. Arte Johnson, Ruth Buzzi, and more. I remember Goldie Hawn too, of course, but I have thought of her regularly over the years (haha), unlike the others. I cannot remember if I saw her on this particular episode, though. John Wayne was making a guest appearance. In one skit, the setting was him with a woman in a bedroom and she told him in a sexy voice “what would you do if I… Read more »
Jeff, That is funny. I saw a late-night infomercial like last year where they are selling all 6 seasons of that great comedy variety show on DVDs. I saw John Wayne in one of the clips they showed. He didn’t seem the type of actor that would be funny, but he obviously was. Lily Tomlin was & is still a great comedian & actress who I really like. I saw her first appearance on the Carol Burnett Show in its early years around 1969 or 1970 on a rerun the other nite & she did a 1-woman sketch scene that… Read more »
Seth,
As Reader’s Digest headlined one of their regular features with, “Laughter Is The Best Medicine.” I couldn’t agree more.
Jeff,
Fabulous cast, great acting, hilarious jokes and skits loaded with diverse and wacky humor; who could have asked for more?
I was 21 to 27 during its run, Seth, so fortunately I was able to get all the jokes. Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour were two of my favorite shows from the late Sixties to the early Seventies; they represented “appointment television” at its finest!