Gold futures marked a fresh two-week low in their start to the new trading week, month and quarter.
Gold for December delivery shed $4.40, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,312.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since Sept. 16.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,311.80 to a high of $1,322.60. They closed the third quarter on Friday with a modest 0.3% loss but did rise in September by 0.4%.
"This week … there are plenty of U.S. macro data to look forward to which could have a big impact on the near-term direction of the dollar, and in turn buck-denominated precious metals," Reuters quoted Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst for Forex.com. "So while they appear to be out of favor now, gold and silver could make a comeback if the incoming U.S. data, especially the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, turn out to be mostly weaker than expected."
Meanwhile, silver for December delivery declined 34.6 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $18.868 an ounce. Like for gold, the close is the lowest since Sept. 16. Silver futures traded between $18.80 and $19.39. They logged gains of 2.7% in September and 3.2% for the third quarter.
In other precious metals futures trading:
-
January platinum dropped $25.40, or 2.5%, to $1,009.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,006.50 to $1,036..
- Palladium for December delivery fell $9.70, or 1.3%, to $711.80 an ounce, trading between $707 and $727.95.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold rose $4.40, or 0.3%, to $1,322.50 an ounce.
- Silver added 34 cents, or 1.8%, to $19.35 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 registered gains of 6,000 ounces in gold coins and 185,000 ounces in silver coins.
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 | Sept Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | – | – | 20,000 | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 4,500 | 24,000 | 79,000 | 569,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 56,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 16,000 | 116,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 20,000 | 85,000 | 705,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 4,500 | 17,500 | 150,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 185,000 | 370,000 | 1,675,000 | 30,760,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 105,000 | ||
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 75,000 | ||
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 200 | 36,300 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | -500 | 2,000 | 29,500 |
Mike Unser –
Is it a coincidence that the gold & silver futures figures are exactly what the London PM closing figures are (futures up & London down) by exactly $4.40 or 0.3 percent for gold & silver by exactly 34 cents or 1.8 percent also?!
-NumisDudeTX
Seth,
Are you saying that the gold and silver futures are manipulated? Na, you wouldn’t say that. Or would you?
Joe C. –
I was just looking at the numbers themselves for today only actually in my posting.
But, manipulation has happened of course. Remember the Hunt brothers trying to corner the silver market in 1979-80 & silver went to its all-time historic high in 1980 of about $50.35 an ounce – a record that stands to this day!
-NumisDudeTX
Seth,
I surely remember 1980. I sold a lot of silver bars that year. I see right now gold is at $1275. If it stays below $1300 that will lower the mints gold prices. Hope it keeps going down.
Joe C. – Gold down $41.30 right now! Silver down over $1. Amazing! Looks like we got our wish that gold goes way down before the gold half dollar is issued! I was a senior in high school in 1980 & had just come back from living in Germany for 3 years where I bought every silver coin I could afford at flea markets & the coin shop & savings bank in the town near our NSA base where I worked summers at the base restaurant. I sold most of that silver 1 day after the high in 1980 &… Read more »
Hi, seth,
Looks like we did alright in 1980. I take it you were born in 1962. I was in the Army in 1962 and wanted to go to Germany when it was time to re-up but they said no so I got out. That was a life changing decision, but that’s another story.