Gold futures settled lower during normal hours Thursday, and then rallied in electronic trading after the Fed decided to hold off on raising interest rates.
Gold for December delivery shed $2, or 0.2%, to close at $1,117 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In after-hours trading, gold was last near $1,131 an ounce.
"Since gold moves with such a strong, inverse relationship to interest rates, the [FOMC’s] 9-1 decision to let rates lie today was an obvious positive for the yellow metal," MarketWatch quoted Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group.
The precious metal on Wednesday rose $16.40, or 1.5%, after a U.S. Labor Department report showed that inflation fell in August, easing expectations that the Fed would hike rates.
Advancing for a second session after falling for three straight, silver for December delivery added a dime, or 0.7%, to settle at $14.98 an ounce. Silver also climbed higher in later trade, last at $15.15 an ounce. In the prior session, silver futures soared 56 cents or 3.9%.
In other precious metals futures on Thursday:
-
October platinum declined $7.30, or 0.8%, to $968.40 an ounce, trading between $961 and $989.60.
- Palladium for December delivery tumbled $12.75, or 2.1%, to $599.20 an ounce, ranging from $594.40 to $618.30.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices were divided. In comparing their prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold inched down a dime to $1,117.50 an ounce.
- Silver advanced a quarter, or 1.7%, to $14.76 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are displayed on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight after the setting of the prices each day.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in September
United States Mint gold sales advanced by 3,000 ounces. This week’s four-day gains in gold coins total 49,500 ounces, which is 20,000 ounces more than last week’s five-day haul.
American Silver Eagles are maxed for the week. The U.S. Mint has restricted sales of the coins since temporarily running out of them in early July. The agency allocated 809,500 for this week and the last batch went out Tuesday.
Silver Eagle sales this year at 34,304,500 coins are on a record pace, up 15.2% through the same time last year. In 2014 when sales ended at a record 44,006,000, the coins by Sept. 17, 2014 reached sales of 29,771,000.
Below is a listing of United States Mint bullion products with the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Last Week | This Week | August Sales | Sept Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 21,500 | 35,500 | 78,500 | 76,500 | 498,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 8,000 | 6,000 | 60,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 2,000 | 8,000 | 24,000 | 12,000 | 134,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 25,000 | 40,000 | 130,000 | 110,000 | 765,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 500 | 4,500 | 6,500 | 20,000 | 16,500 | 165,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | – | 1,000,000 | 809,500 | 4,935,000 | 2,054,500 | 34,304,500 |
| 2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 35,000 | ||||
| 2015 Kisatchie 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 42,000 | ||||
| 2015 Blue Ridge Parkway 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 45,000 | ||||
To see how inflation has changed the buying power of the U.S. dollar over time, use this site’s Inflation Calculator.
