For a second Tuesday in a row, precious metals futures ended in opposite directions from their start on Monday with gold, silver and platinum lower and palladium higher.
Gold for June delivery declined $9.60, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,337.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"I attribute today’s gold price fall as profit-taking after yet another failed attempt to break past the double top around $1354," MarketWatch quoted Chintan Karnani, chief market analyst at Insignia Consultants.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,332.70 to a high of $1,346.60. They advanced 1.5% on Monday.
Silver for May delivery dropped 28 cents, or 1.7%, to close at $16.392 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.34 to $16.61. The surged 2.5% on Monday.
In rounding out precious metals futures:
-
July platinum lost $5.20, or 0.6%, to $931.30 an ounce, trading between $921.50 and $940.80.
- Palladium for June delivery edged up 30 cents to $927.80 an ounce, ranging from $925.20 to $939.50.
LBMA bullion prices are available on the LBMA website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
United States Mint bullion sales advanced by 210,000 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / April | 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 | 3,500 | 1,000 | 28,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 210,000 | 285,000 | 942,500 | 915,000 | 5,302,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 |
This article was edited to included updated U.S. Mint bullion figures
Looks like it won’t be very long before platinum overtakes palladium price-wise.
Palladium had it’s spike late last year and does not have the security of platinum. To all those that did not sell their palladium when the spike took the value higher than gold late last year, strap your seat belt on cause you may need to wait a very long time for it to recover…if it can.
Whew, I guess I can thank my lucky stars I’ve never even dipped my toes into the palladium market; been strictly a silver, gold and platinum man all along myself.