Gold futures ended lower in their start to the new trading month on Thursday. The precious metal logged its third straight session loss, and ended at its lowest price this year.
Gold for April delivery declined $12.70, or 1%, to settle at $1,305.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close was the lowest since Dec. 28.
"We’re down on the stronger dollar today, and we’re still hearing interest rate expectations," Reuters quoted Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at EverBank.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,303.60 to a high of $1,321.40. They dipped less than 0.1% on Wednesday, posting a 1.9% monthly loss.
Silver for May delivery fell 13.1 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $16.276 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.18 to $16.44. In the previous session, they shed almost 0.2% and finished the month of February with a 4.8% loss.
In other precious metals futures:
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April platinum dropped $30.30, or 3.1%, to $957.80 an ounce, trading between $956.50 and $987.30.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $64.40, or 6.2%, to $973.20 an ounce, ranging from $969.90 to $1,038.05.
"Platinum and palladium prices declined as a German court reportedly ruled this week that cities have the right to ban diesel motors to improve air quality," according to MarketWatch. "Both metals are used in the automotive industry."
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold declined $10.10, or 0.8%, to $1,307.75 an ounce.
- Silver shed 12.5 cents, or 0.8%, to $16.315 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
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday / March | Last Week | This Week | February | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 5,000 | 41,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 5,000 | 85,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 500 | 2,500 | 26,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 70,000 | 237,500 | 942,500 | 4,177,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | N/A | 20,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
Well, it appears that the Germans are in fact still as influential a force as they ever were. The courts there simply approve the legality of the process of banning diesel-powered motor vehicles and the next thing you know the bottom is falling right out of both the platinum and palladium markets!
Old collector – I saw that coming a mile away, but dont count out China – they are going to keep Platinum and Palladium in the for front for awhile. I predict that Palladium will tank as it is a by product of platinum mining and right now more costly. Manufactures, manly China will revert back to the cheaper metal – platinum – just makes good business sense.
Mouse
Mouse,
You are definitely remaining on top of things precious metal-wise by keeping you ear to the ground, your eyes on the horizon and just generally staying ahead of the curve, so to speak.
And speaking of staying ahead, I read today that Russia has now gone ahead of China in the total amount of gold it holds as a nation; now that’s a development I didn’t see coming nor did in any way ever expect.
Old Collector – Check out the top ten country’s that hold the largest physical gold reserves to date – the USA being #1 – Germany a close second. We as a world supposedly no longer base our dollar on the gold standard – research is a good thing my friend, the dollar bill will not last and we will go back to the gold standard controlling international currency. Not in our lifetime but it is gonna happen. My country Canada sold off our gold reserve – still pisses me off to this day as one person – leader of the… Read more »
Mouse, I stand corrected, and thank you for the actual figures. I don’t know how I could get information so far off from the truth, and I will have to be sure to “vet” my sources much more closely and carefully in the future. Lesson learned. I wholeheartedly agree that the employment of unsupported, backing-free fiat currency as legal tender is a disaster waiting to happen. If instead, for example, the U.S.A were required to have one dollar’s worth of gold for every one dollar bill in circulation, neither the concept nor the reality of a national debt would even… Read more »
Old Collector – No lesson to be learned my friend. We are a coin community and all have much to offer each other.
You are so correct about all the fictional money that our world deems as real. One day there will be a world financial collapse (the meek will inherit the earth) and world leaders – mainly your country is prepping up for the moment.
Mouse
Mouse & Old Collector – The official price of the gold the USA Government owns & stores at the U S. Mint’s Bullion Depository at Ft. Knox, Kentucky (about 147 million ounces) is on the official accounting books of the USA Treasury Dept. at $42.2222 per ounce. The last public audit of the gold held there was in 1974 by U.S. Mint Director Mary Brooks (who I met a few times at 1980s ANA conventions with her close friend Coin World Editor Margot Russell). She took some Congress persons & media/press people to take photos & proved the gold was… Read more »
Mouse,
You are too kind, and I heartily support your co-operative vision of our little numismatic assemblage here.
As to the likely eventual collapse of the world’s untenable fiat currency system, while I don’t fret about it regarding myself I do find myself worrying on behalf of my children and grandchildren as to how this will impact their lives. Then again, worry and a couple of bucks will get you a cup of coffee.
Seth Riesling,
Why indeed is the price of gold frozen at that incredibly, unrealistically low level by the Treasury Department? Is it perhaps just an ongoing ploy to stave off the idea that there might be at least a remote possibility to accumulate enough gold to at least afford some small chance of returning U.S. currency to the gold standard?
Old Collector – The official gold price of $42.2222 per ounce of the gold held at the Ft. Knox Billion Depository is the price of gold on the last day they added gold to the vaults there at the Army base in Kentucky in the late 1930s. The government can’t value it at today’s “spot” price on their accounting books unless they sell some at today’s price. And they have never sold an ounce since all that gold was impounded there in the 1930s. It is just an accounting books quirk of the U.S. Mint (formerly called the Bureau of… Read more »
Seth Riesling, That is quite a story, and I’m glad that you included all the little “footnotes” that make this saga even more interesting than it already is just on the bare surface. It seems that the lore and the attendant aura surrounding the whole idea of the bullion depository at Fort Knox is approaching something akin to that of the storied Area 51, which I find rather amusing considering how very different that which is (allegedly?) stored at each of these properties is. That being said, and as there indeed has been no official audit of the Fort Knox… Read more »
Seth – Old collector – I have had the pleasure of holding a 750,000 dollar bar of gold at a RCM location. When it comes to high level security, I get it, but at the end of the day, good luck taking large scale weighted bars more than a few feet, if you can. lol Taking large scale gold, not gonna happen, but i do love the security of it…very nostalgic.
Mouse
If the world’s political leaders were as well guarded and protected as the gold reserves their nations hold, their lives and welfare would never be in jeopardy. Just some food for thought.