Gold futures rose modestly in their start to the new trading week on Monday, marking a fresh, almost two-year high, while silver declined for the first time in five sessions.
Gold for August delivery edged up $2.30, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,324.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the highest since July 11, 2014 when prices closed at $1,337.40 an ounce.
"I’m bullish gold because now with Britain leaving [the European Union] there could be danger of the whole euro zone having more political issues," Bloomberg News quoted Miguel Perez-Santalla, a sales and marketing manager at Heraeus Metals New York LLC. "People are going to want to stay hedged with gold; they didn’t think the Brexit was possible, and then it happened."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,322.20 to a high of $1,340. They rose 2.1% last week for their fourth straight weekly increase.
Elsewhere, silver for July delivery dipped 4.5 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $17.744 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $17.66 and $17.94. They advanced 2.2% last week, which also marked their fourth weekly gain in a row. On Friday, silver surged 2.5% and settled at its best price since April 29.
In other precious metals futures on Monday:
-
July platinum fell $7.90, or 0.8%, to $979.20 an ounce, ranging from $976.90 to $997.
- Palladium for September delivery added $10.95, or 2%, to $557.40 an ounce, trading between $545.85 and $558.35.
Last week the two metals logged gains of 2.2% and 3.2%.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold rose $9.05, or 0.7%, to $1,324.55 an ounce.
- Silver declined 34 cents, or 1.9%, to $17.70 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last week, London bullion prices advanced by 1.9% for gold, 3.9% for silver, 2% for platinum and 3.2% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Monday as of 3:14 p.m. Eastern Time. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Mint said its latest weekly allocation of American Silver Eagles is 2,837,500 coins. 2016 Silver Eagles are running at a record pace with sales of 25,312,500 coins, marking a 22.7% 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | Apr Sales | May Sale | June Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 13,500 | 93,500 | 64,500 | 49,500 | 393,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 3,000 | 46,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 14,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 86,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 55,000 | 60,000 | 55,000 | 490,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 12,000 | 110,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 517,000 | 4,072,000 | 4,498,500 | 1,899,500 | 25,312,500 |
| 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 | 0 | 64,000 | 11,000 | 34,200 | 34,200 |
On the topic of silver, on June 15 I saw a photo taken by a journalist at the West Point Mint of the 2016-W American Liberty Proof high relief silver medal & it looks great! The Mint was supposed to strike these in 2014 as a companion to the $100 gold American Liberty high relief Uncirculated coin, but didn’t do as promised. The Mint since then has had the medal on its TBD list. The Mint decided earlier this year to strike them in Proof instead of Uncirculated finish, which is a nice surprise. The San Francisco Mint is currently… Read more »
Seth Riesling,
Other readers,
Speaking of household limits, the mint had a press release Friday (6/24) stating there was a household limit of one (1) coin for Nancy.
chuck –
Thanks for reminding me about our previous posts about Nancy’s gold coins household limits. I found out that the Mint’s press release should have stated a limit of 1 Proof coin & 1 Uncirculated coin per household.
-NumisDudeTX
Seth Riesling, Their release of 6/24 was specific that it was one coin only per household. You must have cleared that up with someone (after the 6/24 release); but, guess they will still have an “out” to reject someone’s order who orders one of each if they want to. Did seem strange that there are two products and you could only buy one; but then again they seem to do strange things and different people do different things. Thanks for your information which I will take as true. Perhaps the mint could (they should) issue a “correction” so people will… Read more »
chuck –
You sure are right about that press release being basically incorrect on the household limit. As you noted, each version is sold separately as either Proof or Uncirculated with different item numbers. The total mintage of 15,000 coins is across both options & the ratio will be based on sales results. But you can buy 1 of each coin in Proof & Uncirculated & that is exactly what I plan on doing. Can’t wait to see them in person! Good luck.
-NumisDudeTX
Seth Riesling,
Thanks again for info.
The other interesting thing is that for this series they always say the ratio is based on sales results which is never the case. Jackie’s proof sold out long ago but unc. still available and no where near limit. One would have to believe too the total limit might have already been struck for Nancy.