Precious metals declined in the mid-week trading session Wednesday. Losses ranged from 0.4% for gold to 6.2% for palladium.
Gold for April delivery stepped down $4.60, or 0.4%, to end at $1,310.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the weakest since Thursday, March 21.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,308.10 to a high of $1,318.80. They fell 0.6% on Tuesday and advanced 0.8% on Monday, ending at their best level since Feb. 26.
Silver for May delivery dropped 13.1 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $15.298 an ounce. The close was the lowest since March 14. Silver futures traded between $15.27 and $15.48. They declined 0.9% on Tuesday and rose 1% on Monday, marking their best close since Feb. 28.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
July platinum slipped $3.20, or 0.4%, to $862.20 an ounce, ranging from $858.80 to $876.40.
- Palladium for June delivery tumbled $94.40, or 6.2%, to $1,421.50 an ounce, trading between $1,407.40 and $1,522.90.
Last Wednesday, March 20, palladium scored a record settlement of $1,560.40 an ounce.
"It does appear as if the palladium market is possibly seeing some selling interest from headlines touting the potential for ‘industrial rotation’ from palladium to platinum because of the recent differential of $700 between the two metals," MarketWatch quoted analysts at Zaner Metals.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM
- Gold declined $6.60, or 0.5%, to $1,309.70 an ounce.
- Silver fell 4 cents, or 0.3%, to $15.40 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales
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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | January | February | March | 2019 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 500 | 27,100 | 2,400 | 3,500 | 33,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 500 | 44,500 | 11,000 | 8,000 | 63,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 15,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 17,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 24,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 90,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 110,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 0 | 23,500 | 6,000 | 5,500 | 35,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,017,500 | 2,157,500 | 850,000 | 7,025,000 |
| Lowell 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 80,000 | 80,000 | |
I’m glad I didn’t buy any palladium yesterday….
I hope it keeps sinking so then I could purchase the palladium reverse proof eagle this year! Probably will go higher when the mint releases it. How sketchy!