Gold futures slumped to a more than one-month low Tuesday as equities surged, a U.S. government report noted tame inflation and bullion buyers were sidelined ahead of the Fed’s Wednesday statement on monetary policy.
Gold for August delivery settled down $16.20, or 1.2%, to $1,366.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Prices traded between $1,360.20 and $1,385.40. The settlement price was the lowest for gold since May 17.
A Labor Department report on U.S. Inflation showed consumer prices in May rose 0.1% after falling 0.4% in April. The increase was less-than-expected and brought the annual rate of inflation to 1.4%. Historically, gold has been purchased as a hedge against inflation.
"Recent data gives little insight into, or guidance on, the Fed’s short-term monetary stance while instead offering rich ground for a policy debate MarketWatch quoted Andrey Kryuchenkov, metals analyst at VTB Capital.
"This is likely to be reflected in minutes from the meeting, while Ben Bernanke’s statement late on Wednesday is hardly likely to turn outright hawkish right away, given subdued [CPI/Inflation readings]. We expect the Fed chairman to be at ease with his ongoing accommodative stance."
In rounding out the precious metals complex:
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Silver again tracked gold. Silver for July delivery lost 8.1 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $21.68 an ounce. Prices ranged from $21.45 to $21.89.
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The outlier, September platinum added $5.30, or 0.4%, to $1,440.10 an ounce. It traded between $1,425.10 and $1,446.10.
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Palladium for September delivery declined $9.50, or 1.3%, to $708.35 an ounce, ranging from $697.10 to $716.90.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixings declined across the board. In contrasting the Monday PM to Tuesday PM London Fix prices:
- Gold fell $18, or 1.3%, to $1,366.75 an ounce,
- Silver lost 7.0 cents, or 0.3%, to $21.80 an ounce,
- Platinum declined $16, or 1.1%, to $1,427 an ounce, and
- Palladium dropped $15, or 2.1%, to $706 an ounce
US Bullion Coin Sales in June
Sales levels for U.S. Mint bullion coins were unchanged Tuesday. The following are daily, June and year-to-date bullion coin totals as provided by the United States Mint.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coin Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | Week-To-Date Sales | June Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 3,500 | 1,000 | 18,500 | 514,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 80,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 0 | 45,000 | 405,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,500 | 500 | 7,500 | 152,000 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,200 | 0 | 1,200 | 27,000 |
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 5,900 | 300 | 14,200 | 14,200 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 846,000 | 631,500 | 2,259,500 | 24,028,000 |
Figures above are in the number of coins sold, not in ounces.
Anybody notice that the release date for the Buffalo One Ounce Gold Reverse Proof has been set for Aug 08? The pricing grid hasn’t been updated to include this coin but assuming it’s the same as the regular proof, if the avg price of gold goes below 1350 by then it should cost 1690 to buy.
This article makes it sound like everything is right with the US economy and therefore as a natural consequence, gold and silver prices are retreating. I can’t see that the economy has improved at all. I’ll take advantage of the fact that gold and silver are on sale right now though.
Yes I agree with Coin Monger here…the FED is about to do some more “easing” and I don’t see a way out of this mess. So I am investing in physical gold. Some are even going as far as digital gold in bit coin. That’s crazy…any thoughts on that? And what about bullion? I am a strong supporter of bullion.