Precious metals futures rallied Tuesday, padding their gains for January, with gold marking its best close in more than a week and silver ending at its highest level in nearly 3 months.
Gold for April delivery added $15.40, or 1.3%, to settle at $1,211.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the highest since Jan. 23.
"Gold is catching a bid from both a falling dollar, as well as the ‘Trump-off’ trade reflected in the markets as a result of the executive orders that have been put in place," MarketWatch quoted Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group. "This pit-stop in the equity markets, combined with the falling USD and Treasury yields in the broader market is all contributing to the big 5%+ move in gold for the month of January."
Gold futures advanced 5.2% this month — their strongest monthly increase since shooting up 8.5% in June, and after falling 1.9% last month. They gained 0.4% in their start to the new trading week on Monday after dropping for four straight days.
Ending higher for a third session in a row, silver for March delivery surged 39.1 cents, or 2.3%, to end at $17.543 an ounce. The settlement is the highest since Nov. 10. Silver futures soared 9.7% in January after falling 3% in December.
In PGM futures on Tuesday and for the month:
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April platinum added $3, or 0.3%, to $996.50 an ounce, for a 10% monthly gain.
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Palladium for March delivery advanced $15.85, or 2.2%, to $754.30 an ounce, posting a 10.4% increase in January.
London Precious Metals Prices
London precious metals prices also finished sharply higher on Tuesday and for the month. In comparing their levels from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold added $20, or 1.7%, to $1,212.80 an ounce.
- Silver gained 19 cents, or 1.1%, to $17.29 an ounce.
- Platinum added $12, or 1.2%, to $991 an ounce.
- Palladium gained $26, or 3.6%, to $756 an ounce.
In January, their prices advanced by 2.4% for gold, 3.5% for silver, 2.7% for platinum and 4.7% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2017
U.S. Mint bullion sales jumped from December, aided by the sellout of most of the popular 2016-dated coins by Dec. 6 and boosted by the January issue of new 2017-dated coins. In monthly comparisons:
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American Eagle gold coins reached 117,500 ounces, racing 4 times faster than in December when 29,000 ounces sold but 5.2% slower than in January 2016 when sales totaled 124,000 ounces. The only other stronger month in 2016 was in November when 147,000 ounces were delivered.
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American Eagle silver coins hit 5,127,500. The monthly tally is the ninth highest since the coins were introduced in 1986. Sales reached just 240,000 last month as the 2016 issue was among those that sold out by Dec. 6. This month’s level is 13.9% lower than the 5,954,500 coins sold in January of last year.
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American Eagle platinum coins reached 20,000, matching the amount that the U.S. Mint produced for sale in 2016.
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American Buffalo gold coins hit 32,000, the highest for a month since 34,000 sold in January 2016.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Dec Sales | Jan Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | – | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 3,500 | 10,000 | 6,500 | 23,000 | 86,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 19,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 36,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 5,000 | 40,000 | 125,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 500 | 4,000 | 1,500 | 12,500 | 32,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 150,000 | 325,000 | 230,000 | 240,000 | 5,127,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | ||||
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | ||||
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | 0 | – | 800 | – |
| 2016 Fort Moultrie 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
So, all the sliver & gold bullion version coins (of the 8 different types available) offered in January to the Mint’s 13 worldwide bullion coin Authorized Purchasers was less than a year ago in January. And the platinum AE bullion coin sales are exactly the same as last year. Not a good start to the New Year & Chinese Lunar New Year which started January 28.
And, there are still 2 different ATB 5-oz pucks still available with no sales in two months!
-NumisDudeTX
Seth I always look at different websites to get the information I can. One website had a post some member started about silver taken a beating, or something like that, at $14 something an ounce. I read the date of the post and it was up to date, Tues. Jan, 21, 2017. Sometimes someone will reply to an old post not knowing the date of the original comment. So I looked at the spot prices on different sites and they all said the same thing which was nothing close to $14 an ounce. I think it was around the $17… Read more »
joera –
The London PM spot fix price for silver as stated in this article was $17.29 yesterday. It is up a little today at about $17.58 right now.
A little below this daily precious metals report is a real-time chart by kitco.com with the precious metals pricing each business day (M-F)
-NumisDudeTX
Seth
But silver was not down to around $14 something on Jan 21, 2017 right? That’s what I read on another site which I could not see anywhere else at that time.
joera –
Silver hasn’t been near $14 since the end of 2015 basically. Wish it was!
mintproducts.com is having a sale on the Sunshine Minting silver bars & rounds I mentioned in my previous post. I just got the email just now. It is on the 1-oz, 5-oz & 10-oz bars & 1-oz rounds. Fairly good deal & they are a great company I have been doing business with the past 2 years.
Good luck in your silver investments.
-NumisDudeTX
Seth
I didn’t think so. I knew better but didn’t understand why someone posted that price. I’ll be checking out mintproducts.com as soon as I get off here and get on their email list as well. THANKS AGAIN! You’ve been a lot of help. Even though I really don’t know you I can still call you a good friend. Thanks again.