Gold and silver futures marked their third straight day of gains on Wednesday, with silver closing at a more than 11-month high and gold ending at its best level in a week. Prices did retreat some in the wake of the latest FOMC statement.
Gold for June delivery climbed $7, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,250.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Even though gold is volatile in the short term, we don’t expect a snap of the new cyclical uptrend in gold," MarketWatch quoted Nico Pantelis, head of research at Secular Investor. "Gold will remain bullish, although more volatile. We still look at the $1,280 resistance level as an important ‘battlefield’ on the gold chart."
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,244 to a high of $1,252.80. For the week so far, the yellow metal has tacked on 1.3%.
Gold moved toward $1,247 an ounce in electronic trading after the Fed’s statement release, which held interest rates unchanged but left the door open to a hike in June.
Silver for May delivery advanced 17.9 cents, or 1.1%, to close at $17.289 an ounce. The settlement was the highest since May 18, when prices ended at $17.732 an ounce. Silver prices traded between $17.14 and $17.44. They are 6% higher so far this week. In after-hours trade, silver was near $17.22 an ounce.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
July platinum added $5.30, or 0.5%, to $1,025.40 an ounce, ranging from $1,013.60 to $1,025.90.
- Palladium for June delivery rose $5.15, or 0.9%, to $609.65 an ounce, trading between $599.50 and $610.10.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold added $5.70, or 0.5%, to $1,247.40 an ounce.
- Silver added 39 cents, or 2.3%, to $17.34 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 2016
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday as of 3:05 p.m. Eastern Time. They did increase late Monday and on Tuesday. Their combined gains over the two days included 14,500 ounces in gold coins and 977,000 ounces in silver coins.
The U.S. Mint this week allocated sales of American Silver Eagles to 1,087,500 coins, which includes 87,500 coins from last week. Distributors order 89.8% through Wednesday. 2016 Silver Eagles are at a record sales pace of 18,889,500 coins, marking a 32.6% increase from 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.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Tuesday Sales | Monday Sales | Last Week | Mar Sales | Apr Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 8,000 | 30,000 | 29,000 | 88,000 | 273,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 35,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 12,000 | 64,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 75,000 | 55,000 | 375,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 7,000 | 19,000 | 79,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 176,000 | 801,000 | 912,500 | 4,106,000 | 4,047,000 | 18,889,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64,000 | 0 | 64,000 | 64,000 |
