Gold edged higher to start the new trading week Monday, scoring its third increase in four sessions and continuing momentum that saw prices jump 3.7% last week.
Gold for December delivery tacked on $1.20, or 0.1%, to finish at $1,315.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The precious metal traded through a narrow range of $1,312 to $1,323.90. Fed expectations are back in the news, as are the latest U.S. jobs numbers scheduled for release Tuesday.
"The price action across markets is clearly starting to reflect the risk that the Fed is less likely to taper its asset purchases in the near term," Reuters quoted Tom Fitzpatrick, analyst at Citigroup’s technical research unit CitiFX.
"The market is convinced that there will be no tapering this year," Adam Klopfenstein, a senior market strategist at Archer Financial Services Inc. in Chicago, said in a telephone interview relayed on Bloomberg News. "Investors will be closely watching tomorrow’s jobs data to gauge the nation’s economic conditions."
Silver was the biggest percentage winner on the day. Silver for December delivery rallied 36.5 cents, or 1.7%, to $22.28 an ounce, trading between $21.85 and $22.34. It dipped 3.4 cents on Friday but notched a 3.1% weekly increase.
In PGM futures on Monday:
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Rising for a fourth straight session, January platinum added 80 cents to $1,438.60 an ounce. Prices ranged from $1,431.30 to $1,446.10.
- Advancing for the seventh time in eight sessions, palladium for December settled up $9.60, or 1.3%, to $750.25 an ounce. Palladium traded between $740.70 and $752.35.
Last week, platinum zipped higher by 4.5% and palladium turned up 3.8%.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixings were mostly higher. Platinum was the exception with its price unchanged. Gold nearly fell into that category. In contrasting Friday PM to Monday PM London fix prices:
- Gold inched up $1 to $1,317.50 an ounce,
- Silver gained 22 cents, or 1%, to $22.09 an ounce,
- Platinum was flat at $1,438 an ounce, and
- Palladium gained $9, or 1.2%, to $746 an ounce
In their numbers last week, advancing was gold at 4%, silver at 1.6%, platinum at 5% and palladium at 3.5%.
U.S. Mint Bullion Sales in October
Last week, American Gold Eagles and American Silver Eagles scored their best sales since August. They logged another solid day of gains on Monday with Silver Eagles rising 416,500 and Gold Eagles climbing 3,000. Also advancing was the American Gold Buffalo, up 1,500.
In total ounces, Gold Eagle sales are at 28,000 ounces for the month, or more than the prior two months combined. Silver Eagles topped 38 million on Monday, a never-before-seen total by October or even November. In record-year 2011 when Silver Eagle sales reached 39,868,500, the 38 million mark was not reached until Dec. 5, 2011.
In coin totals are the latest daily, October and year-to-date United States Mint bullion sales figures:
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday / Week-To-Date Sales | Last Week | October Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 3,000 | 12,000 | 25,000 | 630,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 54,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 106,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 485,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 1,500 | 6,500 | 14,000 | 214,000 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 35,000 | ||
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,200 | 26,200 |
| Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,200 | 27,200 |
| Fort McHenry 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,600 | 27,600 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 416,500 | 800,000 | 2,103,500 | 38,191,500 |
