Precious metals futures settled higher on Tuesday for the first time in four sessions. Gains in gold and silver brought them up from multi-week lows.
Gold for June delivery — the now most active contract — tacked on 15.50, or 1.3%, to settle at $1,237.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gains were supported, opined analysts, by dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
"I’m surprised that she [Yellen] used that term caution," Bloomberg News quoted Phil Streible, a senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago. "It seems very negative for the U.S. dollar and the economy and positive for gold. Easy money will be around for a lot longer."
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,217 to a high of $1,242. In the prior session, the yellow metal dipped 0.1% and closed at its lowest price since Feb. 22.
Silver for May delivery added 4.3 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $15.233 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $15.06 to $15.36. They slipped less than 0.1% on Monday but still marked their lowest close in more than three weeks.
In other precious metals futures on Tuesday:
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July platinum turned up $20.80, or 2.2%, to $967 an ounce, trading between $946.90 and $972.
- Palladium for July delivery rose $6.20, or 1.1%, to $573.20 an ounce, ranging from $555.40 to $579.30.
London Precious Metals Prices
London markets shut down for Good Friday and Easter Monday holiday. In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Thursday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold added $5, or 0.4%, to $1,226 an ounce.
- Silver declined 22 cents, or 1.4%, to $15.06 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016
United States Mint bullion products posted increases of 5,000 ounces in gold coins and 842,500 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
The U.S. Mint this week again limited sales of American Silver Eagles to 1 million coins. The agency’s bullion distributors ordered 84.3% of them through Tuesday, leaving 157,500 left until more become available next week. Their cumulative total for the year is 14,842,500 coins, or 29.4% higher than through the same time in record year 2015.
Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / This Week | Last Week | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | Mar Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,500 | 6,000 | 89,000 | 67,500 | 26,500 | 183,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 23,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 30,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 36,000 | 12,000 | 4,000 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 20,000 | 15,000 | 145,000 | 100,000 | 70,000 | 315,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 500 | 1,000 | 34,000 | 19,000 | 5,500 | 58,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 842,500 | 1,000,000 | 5,954,500 | 4,782,000 | 4,106,000 | 14,842,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | N/A | 105,000 | 0 | 105,000 |
