Precious metals declined together for a third day in a row on Wednesday, with losses generally heavier than those on Tuesday but much lighter than the ones on Monday.
Falling for the eighth consecutive session, gold for December delivery lost $6.70, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,834.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For a fourth straight instance, the settlement was the lowest since ending at $1,834.60 an ounce on March 9.
"Technical selling is featured amid fully bearish near-term charts. Downside corrections in the U.S. dollar index and in U.S. Treasury yields today did not help out the precious metals bulls," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $1,831.60 and $1,846.80. They shed 0.3% on Tuesday and they slipped by 1% on Monday.
Meanwhile, silver for December delivery declined by 23.1 cents, or 1.1%, to $21.146 an ounce, marking its lowest settlement since closing at $20.506 an ounce on March 16. Silver futures ranged from $20.85 to $21.57. They gave back 0.2% on Tuesday and they tumbled by 4.6% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
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January platinum fell by $5.40, or 0.6%, to $874.20 an ounce, with prices trading between $865.80 and $884.80.
- Palladium for December delivery declined by $20.90, or 1.8%, to $1,172 an ounce, ranging from $1,157 and $1,191.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Monday, the U.S. Mint adjusted its bullion sales for September and published starting sales for October, while no changes were made on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | This Week / October | July | August | September | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 25,500 | 41,000 | 78,000 | 27,500 | 797,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 13,000 | 88,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 170,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 150,000 | 40,000 | 585,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,500 | 16,500 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 338,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 717,000 | 2,091,000 | 3,124,000 | 2,970,000 | 18,626,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
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