Gold, silver and platinum logged a second straight day of losses Wednesday while palladium extended its losing streak to four sessions. All moved narrowly.
Gold for August delivery settled down $1.60, or 0.1%, to $1,304.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Investors were more keyed on stocks than safe-havens with the S&P 500 hitting another record high.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session steady to slightly lower in quieter trading Wednesday," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. “Less risk aversion in the market place at mid-week is a bit bearish for safe-haven gold. However, the geopolitical events recently are still keeping sellers of gold leery."
Gold prices ranged from an intraday low of $1,303.50 to a high of $1,311.80. They declined in the prior session by $7.60, or 0.6%.
Silver for September delivery shed a penny after sliding about a half-cent in the previous session. The white metal settled at $21.00 an ounce, ranging from $20.94 to $21.11.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
October platinum declined $1.60, or 0.1%, to $1,486.70 an ounce, trading between $1,482.70 and $1,493.10.
- Palladium for September turned down 55 cents to $874.30 an ounce, ranging from $871.90 to $878.90.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals also registered mostly modest changes. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold dipped $2.25, or 0.2%, to $1,308 an ounce,
- Silver gained 12 cents, or 0.6%, to $20.93 an ounce,
- Platinum lost $1, or 0.1%, to $1,486 an ounce, and
- Palladium rose $2, or 0.2%, to $874 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in July
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 2:38 PM ET. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on 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 | Current Sales 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 | 10,500 | 3,000 | 43,000 | 24,500 | 223,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 78,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 5,000 | 35,000 | 25,000 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 500 | 16,000 | 4,500 | 116,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 590,000 | 615,000 | 2,692,000 | 1,640,000 | 25,768,500 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 500 | 2,000 | 500 | 29,500 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 900 | 0 | 20,000 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 18,500 | 1,500 | 20,000 |
