Gold fell below the pivotal $1,350 an ounce level on Tuesday, marking a second day of losses, albeit modest ones, as investors stayed their buying ahead of the highly anticipated FOMC monetary policy statement.
Gold for December delivery declined $6.70, or 0.5%, to close at $1,345.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The precious metal traded from a low of $1,339.80 to a high of $1,360.40. Gold prices dipped 30 cents in the prior session.
In an article entitled "Gold falls, with Fed ‘distraction’ for bull, bears," MarketWatch relays the following comments from Gene Arensberg, editor of the Got Gold Report:
The gold market reached a "pretty important technical crossroads with gold in the $1,350s. Between $1,350 and $1,375 is (an unknown but almost certain) point of transition where the ‘maybe new bull-market leg’ becomes a ‘confirmed new bull-market leg’, which would invite participation by momentum traders in larger numbers."
"On the other hand, below about $1,325 (if sustained) would signal that this current, surprisingly firm bullish impulse has failed, at least for the short term," he said.
Fed policy makers kicked off their two-day meeting Tuesday with the FOMC statement timed for release at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
"In line with market expectations, we think the Fed will continue with quantitative easing," Reuters quoted Songwut Apirakkhit, managing director of Globlex Holding Management in Bangkok. "However, we think the expectations have already been priced in and gold is due for a correction."
Most recently, gold prices rallied 2.9% last week after during 3.7% in the previous week.
Silver tracked gold on the day, and has fallen for three straight sessions. Silver for December delivery settled down 5 cents, or 0.2%, to $22.49 an ounce. Prices ranged from $22.30 to $22.63. The white metal on Monday closed a dime lower after slipping 18 cents on Friday, though it still scored a 3.3% weekly gain.
In PGM future prices on Tuesday:
-
January platinum lost $11, or 0.8%, to end at $1,461.90 an ounce. It traded between $1,460 and $1,473.50. Platinum in the prior session advanced $17.40, or 1.2%.
- Palladium for December fell $3.40, or 0.5%, to $747.05 an ounce. It traded between $741 and $748.50. On Monday, palladium climbed $2.55, or 0.3%, to mark its eighth increase in nine sessions.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metal fixings were divided. In contrasting Monday PM to Tuesday PM London fix prices:
- Gold declined $11.75, or 0.9%, to $1,349.25 an ounce,
- Silver fell 23 cents, or 1%, to $22.31 an ounce,
- Platinum gained $4, or 0.3%, to $1,466 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $2, or 0.3%, to $744 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in October
U.S. Mint sales advanced across all bullion product series. In total ounces, U.S. Mint distributors scooped up 5,000 ounces in gold coins and 197,500 ounces in silver coins.
Pushing quickly toward a new annual record, Silver Eagle bullion coins advanced 194,500 for a year-to-date total of 39,175,000. When the annual record for the Silver Eagles happened in 2011 at 39,868,500, it took until Dec. 13 for sales to reach where they are now.
In coin totals are the latest daily, October and year-to-date United States Mint bullion sales figures:
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | Week-To-Date Sales | October Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 3,500 | 11,500 | 5,500 | 39,000 | 644,000 |
| $25 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 56,000 |
| $10 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 8,000 | 0 | 10,000 | 114,000 |
| $5 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 5,000 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 35,000 | 500,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 1,000 | 2,500 | 3,000 | 18,000 | 218,000 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 35,000 | |||
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,200 | 26,200 |
| Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,200 | 27,200 |
| Fort McHenry 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 600 | 0 | 600 | 3,200 | 28,200 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 194,500 | 699,000 | 701,000 | 3,087,000 | 39,175,000 |
FOMC = ?? For those of us who are not as deeply entrenched as some in the coin/financial world it would be really helpful if anacronyms were explained whenever they are used so that everyone knows what is being talked about. THANKS!! H.A.N.D.–Have a nice day! 🙂
Federal Open Market Committee. You can Google the terms
Will do! THANKS!
+1, Sith. Search engines are your friend! 🙂
The only thing that these high mintages insure is that the newer mintages will never attain the high dollar collector value that the lower mintages in the 80’s and 90’s have. Especially true in an MS 70 grade.
I shake my head when I see ads in magazines showing the high value of early MS 70 coins as a selling point for newer Uncirculated MS coins. They fail to mention the much lower mintages.
Again, Buyer Beware!
* I was refering to Uncirculated American Silver Eagles.