In beginning a second straight holiday-shortened week of trading on Monday, gold edged lower while silver, platinum and palladium gained. Silver, notably, marked a more than 14-week high.
Gold for February delivery shed $2.80, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,880.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold futures prices are near steady in midday U.S. trading Monday and lost solid early gains. The U.S. stock indexes hitting record highs today and a rebound in the U.S. dollar index hit the gold market as the session progressed," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a daily research note.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,873 to a high of $1,904.10. They slipped 0.3% last week for their first weekly loss in four weeks.
Silver for March delivery surged 63.1 cents, or 2.4%, to settle at $26.539 an ounce. The settlement was silver’s highest since ending Sept. 18 at $27.129 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $26 and $26.98. They gave back 0.5% last week.
In other precious metals futures prices on Monday:
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January platinum rose $14.20, or 1.4%, to $1,043.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,026.90 to $1,056.40.
- Palladium for March delivery added $5.90, or 0.3%, to $2,351.80 an ounce, trading between $2,335 and $2,476.50.
Last week platinum declined 1.4% and palladium fell 1.1%.
London Precious Metals Prices (LBMA)
UK markets remained closed Monday for holiday. Their most recent fixing were:
- Gold at $1,872.55 an ounce.
- Silver at $25.78 an ounce.
- Platinum at $1,009 an ounce.
- Palladium at $2,330 an ounce.
In LBMA results last week, they all logged declines — 0.4% for gold, 0.1% for silver, 2.8% for platinum and 0.04% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2020
United States Mint bullion sales increased Monday by 2,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | October | November | December | 2020 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 2,000 | 4,000 | 64,500 | 77,000 | 48,500 | 747,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 70,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 10,000 | 0 | 106,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 25,000 | 35,000 | 0 | 350,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 19,500 | 23,500 | 10,500 | 242,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,397,000 | 4,805,000 | 751,000 | 30,089,500 |
| America Samoa 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Weir Farm 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Salt River Bay 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Marsh Billings 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| Tallgrass Prairie 5 oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 56,500 |
