Gold ended lower for a second consecutive session Wednesday with prices now poised for an almost 2% monthly decline.
Gold for December delivery — the new most active contract — fell $3.60, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,296.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Investor interest has waned while other asset classes deliver much stronger returns, namely equity markets," Morgan Stanley analysts including Joel Crane wrote in a report today, according to Bloomberg News. "We are cognizant sentiment surrounding gold is likely to remain relatively volatile in the face of continued geopolitical instability and extension of consensus views over the timing of the U.S. interest rate tightening cycle."
Gold prices ranged from an intraday low of $1,293.20 to a high of $1,305.20. Gold lost $5, or 0.4%, on Tuesday.
Silver for September delivery added a penny to end at $20.60 an ounce. Silver prices traded from $20.48 to $20.76. They inched up 2 cents in the previous session.
In rounding out the precious metals complex:
-
October platinum shed $2.60, or 0.2%, to $1,481.90 an ounce, trading between $1,478.30 and $1,488.10.
- Palladium for September turned up $1.85, or 0.2%, to $880.15 an ounce, ranging between $877.10 and $883.25.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals declined. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold fell $4.75, or 0.4%, to $1,294.50 an ounce,
- Silver dipped 10 cents, or 0.5%, to $20.54 an ounce,
- Platinum lost $5, or 0.3%, to $1,480 an ounce, and
- Palladium declined $6, or 0.7%, to $878 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in July
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday as of 3:17 PM ET, but American Silver Eagles advanced by 260,000 in the later hours on Tuesday. The gain lifted Silver Eagle sales over 26 million for the year, maintaining a pace that is the second quickest in the coin’s 29-year history. Silver Eagle sales in record year 2013 had topped 29 million through the first seven months.
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 | 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 | 3,000 | 1,500 | 43,000 | 26,000 | 224,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 78,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 35,000 | 25,000 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 0 | 16,000 | 5,500 | 117,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 615,000 | 285,000 | 2,692,000 | 1,925,000 | 26,053,500 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 500 | 0 | 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 | 0 | 0 | 18,500 | 1,500 | 20,000 |
