Precious metals continued to decline in the wake of Wednesday’s FOMC report that left open the option to raise rates in December. Gold marked its lowest close in three weeks and silver settled at its weakest point in almost four weeks.
Gold for December delivery dropped $28.80, or 2.5%, to end at $1,147.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since Oct. 8.
"With gold prices peaking Wednesday at what was the floor of the 2013 crash around $1,180, the Fed’s neutral statement came like a bucket of cold water," MarketWatch quoted Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault.
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,152.30 to a high of $1,162.50. Prior to the FOMC statement release on Wednesday, gold advanced 0.9% to close at its highest level in just over a week.
Silver for December delivery dived 74 cents, or 4.6%, to close at $15.55 an ounce. The settlement was the lowest since Oct. 2. Silver prices traded from $15.54 to $16.01. They rallied 2.7% in regular trading on Wednesday.
In other precious metals futures on Thursday
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January platinum fell $19.50, or 1.9%, to $993.30 an ounce, ranging from $992.10 to $1,004.80.
- Palladium for December delivery lost $15.30, or 2.2%, to $670.80 an ounce, trading between $668.50 and $683.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices also declined. In comparing their prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold lost $31.60, or 2.7%, to $1,148 an ounce.
- Silver fell 21 cents, or 1.3%, to $15.82 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 October
Atypically, United States Mint bullion sales have remained unchanged since Thursday, Oct. 22. 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 / This Week | Last Week | Sept Sales | Oct Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,500 | 98,500 | 22,500 | 542,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 9,000 | 3,000 | 66,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 4,000 | 146,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 175,000 | 45,000 | 875,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 22,000 | 10,000 | 180,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 926,500 | 3,804,500 | 2,931,500 | 38,986,000 |
| 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 | |||
| 2015 Bombay Hook 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 45,000 | – | 45,000 | |
