Precious metals futures in the mid-week trading session Wednesday logged fairly modest changes that ranged from a loss of 0.6% for silver to an advance of 0.6% for platinum.
Gold for December delivery declined $5.20, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,277.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,279 to a high of $1,290. They settled up 0.3% on Tuesday and advanced 0.4% in starting the week on Monday.
"The gold and silver markets saw overnight and early-U.S. gains evaporate Wednesday when the U.S. dollar index bounced off its daily low after suffering solid losses overnight," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report.
"A batch of important U.S. economic reports released earlier today provided a brief lift to precious metals prices. However, the greenback’s bearish influence proved too strong on this day," Wyckoff noted.
Earlier Wednesday, the Labor Department said consumer prices edged up 0.1% in October and year-over-year inflation eased to 2% from 2.2% previously.
Silver for December delivery dropped 10.2 cents to settle at $16.971 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $16.95 and $17.21. They rose 0.2% in the previous session and moved up 1% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
January platinum added $5.80 to $933.10 an ounce, ranging from $927.50 to $941.50.
- Palladium for December delivery dipped 45 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $985.10 an ounce, trading between $973.55 and $989.30.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold gained $7.60, or 0.6%, to 1,282.20 an ounce.
- Silver added 18 cents, or 1.1%, to $17.115 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
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 4:01 p.m. ET. 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 | October | November | 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 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 2,500 | 11,000 | 5,000 | 186,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 32,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 58,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 10,000 | 370,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 500 | 7,000 | 1,000 | 84,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 90,000 | 175,000 | 1,040,000 | 265,000 | 17,203,500 |
| 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 |
| 2017 George Rogers Clark 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | N/A | 30,900 | N/A | 30,900 | 30,900 |
