Aside from palladium, which rose modestly, precious metals futures advanced on Monday. Gold’s gain was its first in four sessions, and after prices ended at a two-week low on Friday. The yellow metal saw safe-haven support on falling U.S. stocks.
Gold for April delivery rose $5.50, or 0.4%, to finish at $1,317.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is finally getting some safe-haven demand," MarketWatch quoted Jeff Wright, chief investment officer at Wolfpack Capital.
"The headwind keeping gold from breaking out is the FOMC decision and first press conference for Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday," he added.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,307.40 to a high of $1,319.60. They declined 0.9% last week, closing at their worst level since March 1.
Silver for May delivery added 5.3 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $16.325 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.20 to $16.35. They declined 2% last week.
In other precious metals prices:
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April platinum gained $4.20, or 0.4%, to $954.40 an ounce, trading between $942.10 and $958.40.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $1.15, or 0.1%, to $987.40 an ounce, ranging from $984.25 to $994.20.
Last week, platinum fell 1.5% and palladium climbed 0.2%.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold rose $2.30, or 0.2%, to $1,312.40 an ounce.
- Silver lost 19 cents, or 1.2, to $16.285 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last week in LBMA metal prices, gold declined 0.8% and silver fell 0.1% while platinum gained 0.1% and palladium rose 0.3%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
U.S. Mint bullion sales advanced by 195,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles. 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | February | March | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 2,500 | 43,500 |
| $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 | 0 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 95,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,500 | 1,000 | 27,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 195,000 | 270,000 | 942,500 | 630,000 | 4,807,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
So for our gold to go up our stocks have to go down; conversely, for our stocks to go up our gold has to go down. All things considered, it appears the best we can hope for is to break even. Nice.
Old Collector