Precious metals futures were divided again Thursday with gold and palladium modestly lower and silver and platinum slightly higher. Gold marked a new settlement low for the year.
Gold for June delivery fell $2.10, or nearly 0.2%, to settle at $1,289.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since Dec. 26 when the yellow metal ended at $1,287.50 an ounce.
"The firm U.S. dollar and rising U.S. bond yields are continuing to exert pressure," MarketWatch quoted Carsten Fritsch, commodities analyst at Commerzbank.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,284 to a high of $1,294. They inched up 0.09%, on Wednesday, dropped 2.1% on Tuesday, and shed 0.2% on Monday.
Silver for July delivery rose 11 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $16.481 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.33 to $16.51. They climbed 0.6% on Wednesday, tumbled 2.3% on Tuesday, and declined 0.5% on Monday.
In other precious metals futures prices on Thursday:
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July platinum gained $2.30, or 0.3%, to $892.10 an ounce, trading between $883.60 and $895.50.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $5, or 0.5%, to $977.50 an ounce, ranging from $970 to $984.10.
London Precious Metals Prices
LBMA bullion prices are available on the LBMA website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
United States Mint bullion sales registered gains of 500 ounces in platinum coins. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | April | May | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 500 | 0 | 7,800 | 0 | 7,800 | 27,800 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 4,500 | 52,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 12,000 | 0 | 12,000 | 38,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 105,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 5,500 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 40,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 50,000 | 100,000 | 915,000 | 150,000 | 6,157,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 |
| Apostle Islands 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 0 | 30,000 |
