Gold retreated Tuesday, the first time in five sessions. The precious metal saw pressure as the U.S. dollar strengthened after retail sales climbed for the fourth straight month in July.
Gold for December delivery declined $13.70, or 1%, to end at $1,320.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Trading action occurred through a range of $1,317.80 to $1,341. The precious metal on Monday advanced $22, or 1.7%.
"Comex gold futures prices ended the U.S. day session moderately lower Tuesday," said Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, in a daily note. "A solidly higher U.S. dollar index and some technical chart consolidation following recent gains helped to sink the yellow metal. Gold and silver traders are awaiting a batch of U.S. economic data that is coming out later this week."
Up for a third session, barely, silver for September delivery gained less than a half penny to $21.34 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $21.12 to $21.75.
PGMs were alone with losses on Monday. They gained slightly on Tuesday. In settlements on the day:
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October platinum edged up $1 to $1,499.70 an ounce, trading between $1,493.10 and $1,514.70.
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Palladium for September added $1.30, or 0.2%, to $738.90 an ounce, ranging from $735.20 to $742.75.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixings were mixed for the day. When comparing the Monday PM to Tuesday PM London Fix prices:
- Gold fell $12.50, or 0.9%, to $1,328.50 an ounce,
- Silver jumped 62.5 cents, or 3%, to $21.46 an ounce,
- Platinum added $3, or 0.2%, to $1,506 an ounce, and
- Palladium lost $2, or 0.3%, to $740 an ounce
US Bullion Sales
U.S. Mint bullion products hit the sales boards for the first time this week. Sales advanced 3,000 ounces in gold coins and 747,500 ounces in silver coins.
In American Silver Eagles, the day’s pick-up pushed their year-to-date sales over 31 million. Until Tuesday, the quickest that had ever happened was in record year 2011 when the coins topped the level on September 23, 2011.
Sales totals for U.S. Mint bullion coins were unchanged Monday. The following are the available daily, August and year-to-date bullion sales as published by the United States Mint.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / Week-To-Date Sales | Last Week | August Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 1,000 | 500 | 1,500 | 589,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 48,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 94,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 5,000 | 0 | 5,000 | 455,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 1,500 | 2,000 | 4,500 | 184,500 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29,900 |
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 300 | 0 | 300 | 21,100 |
| Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17,400 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 746,000 | 850,000 | 1,596,000 | 31,046,000 |
Figures above are in the number of coins sold, not in ounces.
