Gold futures moved higher on Monday, posting their highest settlement in 15 months and their six straight session advance.
Gold for June delivery added $5.30, or 0.4%, to end at $1,295.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Jan. 22, 2015 when the yellow metal ended at $1,300.70 an ounce.
"We believe that there’s a lot of things that are ripe for precious metals right now: a low interest-rate environment, interest-rate expectations backing down again and we have a weaker dollar," Bloomberg News quoted Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets in St. Louis. "We believe this is just the start of a push higher for the precious metals."
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,292.50 to a high of $1,306. They climbed 4.9% last week, closing April with a 4.4% increase.
Falling for the first time in six sessions, silver for May delivery shed 13.7 cents, or 0.8%, to end at $17.682 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $17.54 to $18.06. They rose 5.4% last week to close April with a 15.2% increase, their biggest monthly gain since August 2013. On Friday, silver settled at its best price since Jan. 28, 2015.
In other precious metals futures on Monday:
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July platinum rose $8, or 0.7%, to $1,086.40 an ounce, trading between $1,073.20 and $1,088.
- Palladium for June delivery dipped $2.90, or 0.5%, to $624.75 an ounce, ranging from $617.15 to $631.75.
London Precious Metals Prices
London markets closed Monday for May Day holiday. In Friday PM bullion prices:
- Gold added $29.65, or 2.4%, to $1,285.65 an ounce.
- Silver added 50 cents, or 2.9%, to $17.85 an ounce.
- Platinum added $25, or 2.4%, to $1,065 an ounce.
- Palladium added $11, or 1.8%, to $628 an ounce.
Last week, London precious metals prices posted gains of 3.4% for gold, 3.8% for silver, 3.6% for platinum and 2.8% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint bullion sales increased by 11,000 ounces in American Eagle and Buffalo gold coins and by 675,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
The U.S. Mint this week allocated sales of American Silver Eagles to 1,085,500 coins, which includes 85,500 coins carried over from last week. Distributors order 62.2% of them on Monday. 2016 Silver Eagles are at a record sales pace of 19,590,000 coins, marking a 31.3% increase over 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | Mar Sales | Apr Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 7,500 | 15,500 | 29,000 | 93,500 | 286,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 36,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 14,000 | 66,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 15,000 | 75,000 | 55,000 | 380,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 3,000 | 3,500 | 7,000 | 19,500 | 82,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 675,500 | 1,002,000 | 4,106,000 | 4,072,000 | 19,590,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64,000 | 64,000 |
