Precious metals ended lower in their start to the new trading week on Monday as the U.S. dollar logged gains.
Gold for December delivery shed $2.80, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,343.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since Aug. 8.
"The firm U.S. dollar, rising bond yields and significantly higher rate hike expectations in the U.S. are apparently weighing on prices," Commerzbank said in a note as reported by Reuters. "According to the Fed Fund Futures, the probability of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike this year is now at over 60 percent again."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,335.40 to a high of $1,345.70. They edged up 0.2% last week, their first weekly gain in three weeks.
Elsewhere, silver for September delivery dived 45.80 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $18.859 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $18.71 to $19.25. They lost 2% last week, giving back gains after Friday’s decline of 2.1%.
In other precious metals trading:
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October platinum moved down $10.20, or 0.9%, to $1,108.20 an ounce, trading between $1,101.60 and $1,119.50.
- Palladium for September delivery dropped $17.20, or 2.4%, to $692.15 an ounce, ranging from $690.65 to $711.45.
Last week, platinum fell 1% while palladium surged 2.7%.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold fell $10.50, or 0.8%, to $1,335.90 an ounce.
- Silver fell 50.5 cents, or 2.6%, to $18.91 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last week in London bullion prices, the decliners included gold by 0.4%; silver by 2.3%; and platinum by 3.5%. Palladium, meanwhile, posted a 2.4% weekly increase.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint bullion products logged increases of 3,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles adn 185,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | July Sales | Aug Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins | 0 | 0 | 19,000 | 0 | 19,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,500 | 5,000 | 30,000 | 34,000 | 470,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 51,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 2,000 | 98,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 50,000 | 35,000 | 590,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 127,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 185,000 | 255,000 | 1,370,000 | 765,000 | 28,385,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 400 | 0 | 400 | 34,600 |
Back up the truck now why if you have the opportunity to grab some silver since it’s sitting around the 18:50 per oz. Your going to be kicking yourself right in the rear-end for not doing so.. Your going to look back after about 10 years where silver most likely be anywhere from $75.00 to $100.00 a ounce. It should be sitting at $50.00 oz right now but for some odd reason, its not! I would not go run out and buy a bunch of bullion, that’s for sure. I buy nothing but High graded NGC Peace Dollars, Morgan Dollars… Read more »