Gold futures climbed for a second day in a row Thursday, and closed at a nearly four-month high as the U.S. dollar declined.
Gold for February delivery added $3.20, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,322.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Sept. 15 when prices ended $1,325.20 an ounce.
"It’s always common to see a New Year bump in new private-investors demand for gold," MarketWatch quoted Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault. "January sees people rebalance and rethink risk, and that’s driving both precious metals prices and investor interest to show a marked rise at the start of the year."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,316.10 to a high of $1,324.70. They gained 0.4% on Wednesday, declined 0.5% on Tuesday, and slipped 0.1% in starting the trading week on Monday.
Silver for March delivery lost 6.9 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $16.966 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.88 to $17.07. They edged up 0.2% on Wednesday and fell 0.8% on both Tuesday and Monday.
In other precious metals futures prices:
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April platinum finished up $12, or 1.2%, to $990.80 an ounce, trading between $973.50 and $991.
- Palladium for March delivery dipped $1.15, or 0.1%, to $1,076.25 an ounce, ranging from $1,070.80 to $1,086.35. They closed at a new all-time high on Tuesday at $1,098.15 an ounce.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold added $3.30, or 0.3%, to $1,323.05 an ounce.
- Silver declined 12.5 cents, or 0.7%, to $17.01 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
U.S. Mint bullion sales registered gains of 4,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 500 ounces in American Gold Buffalo coins.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Last Week | This Week | December | 2017 Sales | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 0 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 4,000 | 0 | 27,000 | 38,000 | 228,500 | 27,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 1,000 | 0 | 12,000 | 3,000 | 37,000 | 12,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 24,000 | 4,000 | 64,000 | 24,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 0 | 60,000 | 25,000 | 395,000 | 60,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 3,000 | 0 | 18,500 | 14,000 | 99,500 | 18,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,520,000 | 742,000 | 18,065,500 | 2,520,000 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 | 0 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 |
| 2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 | 0 |
| 2017 George Rogers Clark 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32,400 | 0 |
This article was edited to include updated U.S. Mint bullion figures.
So sweet it would B right now, if i was smart enough to buy palladium over the years when it sold for hundreds of dollars, just maybe silver* will sea something like that in our lifetime*.