Gold and silver closed lower Wednesday to snap multi-session winning streaks, but then climbed in after-hours dealings when minutes from the Fed’s last meeting were released.
Gold for December delivery lost $4.90, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,288.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal was near $1,293 an ounce in electronic trading after the FOMC minutes were released.
"The Fed minutes confirmed what several Fed officials had been hinting at since the meeting — that the consensus support for a December rate hike isn’t strong or completely committed," MarketWatch quoted Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter, told MarketWatch. "This added bit of doubt as to whether there’ll be a December hike and helped gold reverse."
Gold futures advanced 0.7% on Tuesday — finishing at their best level since Sept. 26, and gained 0.8% on Monday.
Closing lower for the first time in five sessions, silver for December delivery fell 7.4 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.133 an ounce. Silver futures gained 1.4% on Tuesday, ending at their highest price since Sept. 20, and rose 1.1% in starting the week on Monday. The precious metal was last at $17.21 an ounce in after-hours trade.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
January platinum shed $3.30, or 0.4%, to $933.20 an ounce, ranging from $930.50 to $938.10.
- Palladium for December delivery jumped $25.30, or 2.7%, to $958.95 an ounce, trading between $933.25 and $959.80.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $2.15, or 0.2%, to 1,289.25 an ounce.
- Silver added 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.15 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2017
United States Mint bullion sales rose by 1,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles. 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | September | October | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 0 | 15,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 1,000 | 2,500 | 3,000 | 8,000 | 5,500 | 175,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 32,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 56,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 25,000 | 5,000 | 335,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 2,000 | 78,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 150,000 | 150,000 | 320,000 | 300,000 | 16,198,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
Right now, on Thursday October 12, palladium is trading at $35 above platinum!
The new U.S. Mint bullion version $25 1-ounce Palladium American Eagle coins are holding their value well, especially those graded MS-70 with the special Prooflike designation!
-NumisdudeTX
BTW, we published a quick video of a Palladium Eagle at https://youtu.be/syiXncpiPIg.