Precious metals futures closed lower Wednesday, registering their fourth loss in five sessions. Profit taking and riskier appetites were among factors cited for the declines.
Gold for June delivery fell $8.90, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,228.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices traded from a low of $1,224.90 to a high of $1,246.80. In the prior session, they advanced 1.3% following dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
Yellen’s comments "are going to help gold in the long term, but any pullback in prices likely have more to do with profit-taking and consolidation than economic policy," MarketWatch quoted Adam Koos, president of Libertas Wealth Management Group.
Silver for May delivery shed 2.2 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $15.211 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $15.18 to $15.46. They gained 0.3% on Tuesday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
July platinum dipped 80 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $966.20 an ounce, trading between $962 and $979.70.
- Palladium for June delivery fell $6.85, or 1.2%, to $566.35 an ounce, ranging from $563.25 to $579.30.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold added $10.25, or 0.8%, to $1,236.25 an ounce.
- Silver added 32 cents, or 2.1%, to $15.38 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 1,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 1,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalo coins.
The U.S. Mint this week limited sales of American Silver Eagles to 1 million coins. The agency’s bullion distributors ordered 84.3% of them through Wednesday, leaving 157,500 left until more become available next week. Their cumulative total for the year is 14,842,500 coins, or 26.2% 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | Mar Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 6,000 | 3,500 | 89,000 | 67,500 | 27,500 | 184,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 30,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36,000 | 12,000 | 4,000 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 145,000 | 100,000 | 75,000 | 320,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 34,000 | 19,000 | 6,500 | 59,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,000,000 | 842,500 | 5,954,500 | 4,782,000 | 4,106,000 | 14,842,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 105,000 | 0 | 105,000 |
