Precious metals futures turned lower Tuesday as the U.S. dollar rallied. Gold’s loss was a second in a row. Silver, however, declined for the first time in five sessions.
Gold for December delivery fell $8, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,124.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices traded from a low of $1,120.50 to a high of $1,136.10. In the prior session, they slipped $5 or 0.4%.
"When the rate hike comes, unless the U.S. economy and its consumer is financially robust, we will see far greater turmoil than we saw a month ago," MarketWatch quoted Julian Phillips, founder of and contributor to GoldForecaster.com. "So very short term, the gold price is falling, but I would not read too much into that as we move to the time when it will make some very strong moves."
Gold prices surged 3.1% last week, posting their best gains on Friday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.
Silver for December delivery tumbled 47 cents, or 3.1%, to settle at $14.76 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $14.70 to $15.22.
In PGM futures on Tuesday:
-
October platinum gave back $36.20, or 3.7%, to $937.50 an ounce, trading between $935.20 and $973.70.
- Palladium for December delivery shed $5.15, or 0.8%, to $610.95 an ounce, ranging from $593.60 to $616.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices also declined. In comparing their prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold lost $10.35, or 0.9%, to $1,122.90 an ounce.
- Silver fell 24 cents, or 1.6%, to $14.94 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in September
United States Mint logged wide sales of its bullion coins, with all available product options advancing Tuesday. Gains included 19,500 ounces in gold coins and 750,000 ounces in silver coins.
Sales of American Silver Eagles are again maxed for the week. The U.S. Mint has limited sales of the coins since temporarily running out of them in early July. The agency allocated 750,000 for this week and all sold. With Tuesday’s gains, Silver Eagle sales for the year hit 35,054,500 coins — a record pace, up 17.4% through the same time in 2014. Last year when sales ended at an annual record totaling 44,006,000, the coins by this time reached sales of 29,871,000.
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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / This Week | Last Week | August Sales | Sept Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 12,000 | 35,500 | 78,500 | 88,500 | 510,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 3,000 | 8,000 | 7,000 | 61,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 4,000 | 8,000 | 24,000 | 16,000 | 138,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 30,000 | 40,000 | 130,000 | 140,000 | 795,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 3,000 | 6,500 | 20,000 | 19,500 | 168,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 750,000 | 809,500 | 4,935,000 | 2,804,500 | 35,054,500 |
| 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 | |||
