On Monday, gold and silver declined, snapping their multi-day winning streaks, while platinum and palladium gained.
Down for the first time in five sessions, gold for August delivery fell by $8, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,956.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold is likely to be under pressure as the U.S. economy continues to be quite firm, particularly on the employment front. In my view it is very unlikely that the Fed is going to commit to a tilt towards a more dovish policy stance," Reuters quoted Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities.
Gold futures traded between $1,949 and $1,963.60. They advanced by 1.7% last week, ending Friday at their highest price since June 16.
Falling for the first time in four sessions, silver for September declined by 17.6 cents, or 0.7%, to end at $25.018 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $24.81 and $25.16. They soared 8.2% last week, closing Friday at their highest point since May 10.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
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October platinum rose by $3.20, or 0.3%, to $987.50 an ounce, trading between $973 and $991.30.
- Palladium for September delivery tacked on $14.70, or 1.2%, to $1,281.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,248 to $1,298.50.
Last week, platinum jumped 7.2% and palladium gained 1.7%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Last week, on Tuesday, the U.S. Mint reported the first bullion sales gains for the month and published updated figures for June. Since then, there have been no further reports of bullion sales.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week / July | March | April | May | June | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 12,000 | 211,000 | 159,500 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 637,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 73,000 | 61,000 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 279,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 414,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 10,138,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 7,500 | 500 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 12,700 |
