On Thursday, prices for precious metals saw minimal changes, with gold and platinum gaining modestly, while silver and palladium experienced slight losses.
Climbing from a three-week low, gold for December delivery edged up 30 cents, or 0.02%, to settle at $1,932.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold prices are near steady and silver prices are moderately down in midday U.S. trading Thursday, following a batch of U.S. economic data that showed an uptick for producer inflation and solid retail sales. Both reports fall into the camp of the U.S. monetary policy hawks, and that’s bearish for the metals," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $1,921.70 and $1,934.5. They shed 0.1% on Wednesday, marking their lowest settlement since Aug. 22, they fell by 0.6% on Tuesday, and they advanced by 0.2% on Monday.
Falling for a second day following two straight gains, silver for December delivery lost 18.7 cents, or 0.8%, closing at a price of $22.994 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $22.55 and $23.27. They gave back 1.2% on Wednesday, they edged up by 0.08% on Tuesday, and they rose by 0.9% on Monday.
In other precious metals prices on Thursday:
-
October platinum increased by $5.90, or 0.7%, to $911.10 an ounce, trading between $900.20 and $914.
- Palladium for December delivery declined by $6, or 0.5%, to $1,254.80 an ounce, ranging from $1,251 to $1,273.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Thursday, U.S. Mint bullion sales remained unchanged. They advanced for the first time this week on Wednesday, with increases of 20,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 1,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and 785,000 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 | July | August | September | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 3,500 | 8,500 | 41,000 | 78,000 | 12,000 | 756,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 85,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 22,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 22,000 | 156,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 0 | 150,000 | 35,000 | 570,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 14,000 | 1,500 | 16,500 | 19,500 | 15,500 | 328,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 717,000 | 785,000 | 209,100,000 | 3,124,000 | 1,502,000 | 16,441,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
I wonder if the reason that the precious metals aren’t moving up or down in concert is due to the continuing uncertainty and subsequent insecurity about the economy.
Well there certainly is a lot of uncertainty about our economy with crude oil approaching $90/barrel (and some saying $100 plus soon), high interest rates (how does anyone look at their CC bills with interest on unpaid balances over 20%!), high housing costs (many folks completely shut out of buying a house), plus high costs for all the rest of our basic needs products. Does this affect the price of precious metals? I wish I had some inside information on that Kaiser, but alas, I don’t. I haven’t heard news of any big whales buying a large amount of gold… Read more »
Craig, It’s interesting to me that at my age (76) I do both less and more worrying about my finances than I did as a younger man. More because there realistically speaking aren’t that many ways left to bolster my “stash”; less because it’s inescapable that I won’t live forever so there’s a limit to how much I will need. Once again the “every coin has two sides” phenomenon kicks in! Good for you that you have made well though out provisions for yourself for the future. I think I would be fibbing a bit if I said I had… Read more »
Depending on how the UAW strike works out, I may have to come out of retirement. If the union gets what they want, the average auto worker would make $300,000 a year working 32 hours/week..I’ll help build a crappy vehicle for that! Just think. it’d be raining gold coins in my household. The only downside…I’d have to live in Detroit, Michigan.
Craig,
I’m guessing I would choose to forsake the golden rain (anybody with a dirty mind, stop right now) if it necessitated my moving to the once but certainly no longer by any definition great city of Detroit to partake of it. By the way, if the union gets its way, its member will before long be known as former auto workers, but that’s another story entirely.