Gold futures edged modestly higher in their start to the new trading week on Monday. Other precious metals futures declined.
Gold for June delivery inched up 40 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,235 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"There’s a lot of fundamental uncertainty out there, and of course gold has long-term stability," Bloomberg News quoted Josh Crumb, the chief strategy officer who helps oversee $1.7 billion at Toronto-based GoldMoney. "The upside is still greater than the downside."
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,231.70 to a high of $1,243. They fell 0.7% last week, their first weekly loss in three weeks.
Silver for May delivery shed 6 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $16.253 an ounce. Silver prices traded between $16.13 and $16.34. They rallied 6% last week for their second straight weekly gain.
In rounding out the precious metals futures complex:
-
July platinum fell $12.10, or 1.2%, to $977.80 an ounce, ranging from $971.20 to $990.40.
- Palladium for June delivery dipped 25 cents to $568 an ounce, trading between $561.50 and $570.
Last week, platinum gained 2.2% and palladium surged 5.5%.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold added $7.20, or 0.6%, to $1,234.30 an ounce.
- Silver added 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $16.20 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last week, silver, platinum and palladium registered advances of 6.7; 3%; and 5.8% but gold tumbled 2.1%.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
Sales of U.S. Mint bullion products advanced by 12,500 ounces in gold coins and by 916,500 ounces in silver coins.
The latter included sales of the new silver coin commemorating Cumberland Gap National Historical in Kentucky, the second of five 2016-dated America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coins. The 48,000 coin start is quicker than the first 2016 release commemorating Shawnee National Forest in Illinois. It opened with first-day sales of 41,800 coins and now has a total of 105,000 coins, the most since the Glacier National Park coin from 2011.
The U.S. Mint this week allocated sales of American Silver Eagles to 1 million coins. Distributors order 67.7% of them on Monday. 2016 Silver Eagles are at a record sales pace of 17,676,500 coins, which is 31% higher than 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | Mar Sales | Apr Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 10,000 | 29,500 | 29,000 | 58,000 | 243,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 4,000 | 34,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 60,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 75,000 | 30,000 | 350,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 14,000 | 74,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 676,500 | 1,036,000 | 4,106,000 | 2,834,000 | 17,676,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins | 48,000 | 0 | 0 | 48,000 | 48,000 |
