Gold prices moved higher for a fourth straight session on Wednesday and ended at a 14-week high.
Gold for August delivery settled up $4.30, or 0.3%, to $1,330.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The closing price is the highest since March 21 when gold finished at $1,336 an ounce.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session modestly higher and closed at a 3.5-month high close Wednesday, as traders stepped in to buy an early dip in prices," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily note. "The gold market weakened a bit after the ADP national employment report for June came in at up 281,000, which beat most market expectations."
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,322.10 to a high of $1,333.20.
Silver gained for a second day after falling for three consecutive sessions with September futures up 19 cents, or 0.9%, to $21.30 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $20.96 to $21.34.
PGMs were mixed. In the daily breakdowns:
-
October platinum slipped $3.50, or 0.2%, to $1,511.50 an ounce, trading between $1,501 and $1,523.
- Palladium for September added $2.80, or 0.3%, to $857.40 an ounce, ranging from $850.20 to $862.85.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals split with gold and silver down and platinum and palladium up. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold lost $1, or less than 0.1%, to $1,326.50 an ounce,
- Silver fell 4 cents, or 0.2%, to $21.04 an ounce,
- Platinum rose $14, or 0.9%, to $1,511 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $6, or 0.7%, to $855 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in July
Sales of United States Mint bullion coins were unchanged as of 3:40 p.m. ET. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold last week, this week so far, last month, the month to date, and the year to date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Sales Last Week Sales | Sales This Week | June Sales | July Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 700 | 0 | 12,900 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 12,000 | 3,000 | 43,000 | 1,000 | 199,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 72,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 35,000 | 0 | 360,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 1,500 | 16,000 | 500 | 112,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 447,000 | 320,000 | 2,692,000 | 0 | 24,128,500 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 29,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 400 | 0 | 900 | 0 | 20,000 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 3,000 | -800* | 18,500 | 0 | 18,500 |
*On Monday, the U.S Mint reduced sales of Arches silver coins.
