Gold futures settled modestly higher Wednesday, advancing their winning sessions to six in a row and posting a fresh, nearly six-week high. Prices then drove higher in after-hours trade when the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.
Gold for August delivery added 20 cents to settle at $1,288.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since May 6. In electronic trading after the Fed news, gold rose toward $1,296 an ounce.
"Gold bugs are happy that there wasn’t, so far at least, a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ reaction," MarketWatch quoted Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter. "Gold’s positive response is, rather, appropriate for the mildly more-dovish stance of the FOMC."
Silver for July delivery tacked on 7.9 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $17.503 an ounce. The settlement was also the highest since May 6. The precious metal was last near $17.56 an ounce in after-hours trading. In the prior session, silver futures slipped 0.1% for their first loss in five sessions.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
July platinum gained $2.90, or 0.3%, to $974.80 an ounce, ranging from $972.50 to $988.
- Palladium for September delivery declined $3.20, or 0.6%, to $532.55 an ounce, trading between $530.80 and $546.90.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold fell $3.85, or 0.3%, to $1,283.30 an ounce.
- Silver added 16 cents, or 0.9%, to $17.41 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
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday. On Monday, the U.S. Mint said it is limiting this week’s sales of American Silver Eagle to 1,672,500 coins. 2016 American Silver Eagles are running at a record pace with sales of 24,327,500 coins, representing a 27.6% increase over those sold through same time in record-breaking year 2015.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday / This Week | Last Week | Apr Sales | May Sale | June Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 12,500 | 93,500 | 64,500 | 22,000 | 365,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 0 | 43,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 14,000 | 10,000 | 2,000 | 78,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 55,000 | 60,000 | 20,000 | 455,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 6,000 | 104,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 843,500 | 4,072,000 | 4,498,500 | 914,500 | 24,327,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 64,000 | 11,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 33,000 | 64,000 | 11,000 | 33,000 | 33,000 |
Not s single silver or gold bullion coin sold in 3 days to the Mint’s 13 worldwide bullion coin Authorized Purchasers! What is going on with that situation?
And platinum is $314 per ounce less than gold! What a bargain for the rarest coinage precious metal.
-NumisDudeTX
Gold has broken the $1300 level for first time in a long time!
-NumisDudeTX