2014 Silver Eagle Bullion Sales Top 3.1M on First Day, Gold Hits 4-Week High

Gold and silver advanced for a third straight session in the wake of last week’s dismal jobs report and tumbling U.S. stocks. Also on Monday, the U.S. Mint started accepting orders for its new 2014 American Silver Eagle bullion coins.

Returning to precious metals prices first, gold for February delivery added $4.20, or 0.3%, to finish at $1,251.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The closing level is the highest since Dec. 11.

"Solid losses in the U.S. stock market Monday also found investor and trader monies looking for other asset classes," said Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, in a daily note. "If the air continues to come out of the overly inflated stock market balloon, then gold and other hard assets will continue to benefit."

Gold prices traded from a low of $1,243 to a high of $1,255.30. Last week they rose 0.7%.

"It feels like the market just might be on the turn; much of the gold negative news is in the price and investor appetite seems to be insatiable at these levels," Ross Norman, chief executive officer at Sharps Pixley, told MarketWatch. "Besides, with oil above $100 a barrel, we should of course be closer to the $1,600 level. Perhaps that’s for 2015."

The Dow, S&P and Nasdaq each dropped by more than 1% on Monday.

"There was some follow-through buying from Friday’s job report and rotation from equities to gold," Reuters quoted Frank McGhee, head precious metals dealer at Chicago commodities brokerage Alliance Financial LLC. "At some point, gold’s rally is going to fade" because of an improving economic outlook, McGhee said.

Silver for March delivery settled up 16 cents, or 0.8%, to $20.39 an ounce, ranging from $19.96 to $20.47. Silver rose just a penny last week.

In PGM futures on Monday:

• April platinum gained $7, or 0.5%, to $1,443.90 an ounce, trading between $1,433 and $1,445.50.

• Palladium for March delivery declined $6.05, or 0.8%, to $740 an ounce, ranging from $737.60 to $746.80.

Last week, platinum gained 1.6% and palladium rallied 2%.

London Fix Precious Metals

London precious metals fixings advanced in tandem for a third straight business day. In contrasting the London fix prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:

• Gold edged up $3.75, or 0.3%, to $1,248 an ounce,
• Silver added 29 cents, or 1.5%, to $20.09 an ounce,
• Platinum rose $11, or 0.8%, to $1,436 an ounce, and
• Palladium gained $3, or 0.4%, to $740 an ounce

The metals split last week with silver off 1.9% and the others scoring gains of 0.8% for gold, 1.5% for platinum and 1.2% for palladium.

US Mint Bullion Sales in January

First day sales of 2014 Silver Eagle bullion coins totaled 3,180,500 from the weekly allocation of 3,575,000 coins. The U.S. Mint is rationing how many it will sell to maintain an inventory. The one-day total already makes January the strongest Silver Eagle sales month since August. Introduced in 1986, the series monthly sales record happened in January 2013 at 7,498,000 coins.

2014 American Gold Eagle bullion sales for January now total 63,000 ounces, which is the highest total since May’s 70,000 ounces. Sales in January of last year hit 150,000 ounces.

2014 American Gold Buffalo bullion sales for January now total 32,500 ounces, which is the highest total since April’s 37,000 ounces. Sales in January 2013 hit 72,500 ounces.

Both of the 2014-dated gold bullion coins debuted on Jan. 2, 2014.