Gold prices climbed from a three-week low Wednesday, and also snapped a three-session losing streak.
Gold for June delivery turned up $3.50, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,284.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices ranged from a low of $1,281.30 to a high of $1,289.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session modestly higher Wednesday, as some more short covering and bargain hunting were featured following recent selling pressure," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "Also, some scant safe-haven demand surfaced due to an increase in Russia-Ukraine tensions."
In other precious metals, silver and palladium rose for a second day while platinum advanced from a prior-day loss. In the daily closings:
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Silver for May delivery tacked on 8 cents, or 0.4%, to end at $19.44 an ounce. It traded between $19.38 and $19.56.
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July platinum rose $3.60, or 0.3%, to $1,403.90 an ounce, ranging from $1,398 to $1,407.60.
- Palladium for June delivery added $2.35, or 0.3%, to $786 an ounce, trading between $783 and $787.60.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals logged modest declines. In contrasting the London fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold shed $1.50, or 0.1%, to $1,285.25 an ounce,
- Silver dipped 5 cents, or 0.3%, to $19.46 an ounce,
- Platinum lost $3, or 0.2%, to $1,400 an ounce, and
- Palladium fell $1, or 0.1%, to $786 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in March
U.S. Mint bullion sales were limited to 50,000 orders of American Silver Eagles after much wider product advances on the previous day.
Below is a sales breakdown for U.S. Mint bullion coins with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on Wednesday, last week, this week so far, last month, the month-to-date, and this year so far.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Sales Last Week | Week-To-Date Sales | March Sales | April Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 300 | 100 | 10,000 | 1,000 | 11,000 |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 7,500 | 1,500 | 16,000 | 21,000 | 121,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 18,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 8,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 20,000 | 62,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 30,000 | 35,000 | 275,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 500 | 12,000 | 13,500 | 79,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 50,000 | 1,085,000 | 1,140,500 | 5,354,000 | 3,569,000 | 17,448,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | N/A* | 7,400 | 600 | 12,400 | 10,600 | 23,000 |
*The U.S. Mint on Monday, April 21, said it temporarily sold out of Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins and that it would have additional inventory available in a few weeks.
My guess is that the Smoky is done. It is close enough in time tht the next-up Shenandoah’s will come on sale before any additional product could be found. Maybe the future mintages will increase slightly but with silver in short supply, I doubt it.
Speaking of silver shortages, why is it that the price stays so low when obviously something is rotten in Denmark. Manipulation anyone? Next question: why?
Who gains by artificially keeping the market price artificially low?