Precious metals declined on Thursday, contributing to the monthly losses of gold, silver, and palladium, while simultaneously reducing platinum’s gains in August.
Slipping from an almost one-month high, gold for December delivery shed $7.10, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,965.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Technically, December gold futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. However, prices are starting to trend up. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $2,000.00. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at the August low of $1,913.60," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
In August, gold prices experienced a 2.2% decline, following a 4.1% jump in July, and are now 7.7% higher for the year. On Wednesday, the price of gold reached its best point since Aug. 4.
After scoring the strongest settlement since July 19, silver for December delivery declined by 29.2 cents, or 1.2%, to end at $24.812 an ounce. Silver prices moved 0.6% lower in August after soaring 8.5% in July. Year to date, silver is up by 3.2%.
Elsewhere, regarding prices of other precious metals on Thursday and for the month:
-
October platinum fell by $8.90, or 0.9%, to finish at $974.40 an ounce, trimming its August gain to 1.7%.
- Palladium for December delivery declined by $10.30, or 0.8%, to close at $1,218.70 an ounce, increasing its monthly loss to 4.5%.
Reviewing their performance since the beginning of the year, platinum has fallen by 9.2%, while palladium has dropped by 32.7%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. On Monday, the U.S. Mint reported bullion sales gains of 79,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 603,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | June | July | August | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 36,500 | 19,500 | 35,000 | 41,000 | 72,000 | 738,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 75,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 134,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 60,000 | 60,000 | 0 | 120,000 | 505,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,000 | 0 | 17,000 | 16,500 | 19,500 | 312,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 756,000 | 603,000 | 1,482,000 | 209,100,000 | 2,942,000 | 14,757,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,500 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
If only the world was so simplistic. I don’t think the average consumer in America who’s concerned about rising rents (or home ownership), rising food costs, rising oil (which is consumed in just about everything from pharmaceuticals to your tooth paste), and rising interest rates (especially on their CC’s which consumers are using in record levels with rising balances) is now dancing in the streets over the slight pull back in precious metals. They are pissed about how the economy, for them at least, has morphed from what was affordable to what we have now, I always tell them to… Read more »
“If only the world was so simplistic.“—You are telling us this, Craig? I have been telling you and your Superhero Dazed and Coinfused this for 11 days now and counting. I think he is trying harder than you are (was, I haven’t seen a comment from him since the hurricane ((my first article of the day though)), hopefully he is all right). You should really go back and read my replies to your old comments (and his, you might learn something. Consider it “DD”. Haven’t I said this before? I am feeling a sense of Deja Vu) before your reputation… Read more »