Precious metals dropped together for a third straight session on Monday, registering losses ranging from 2% for both silver and platinum to 5.9% for palladium. Gold finished near a three-week low.
Gold for December delivery fell $45.30, or 2.5%, to settle at $1,806.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since Nov. 4.
"The yellow metal slumped, the U.S. dollar index rallied to a 15-month high and U.S. Treasury yields rose when it was announced Biden chose Powell to continue in his position for another term. Speculation had been that Biden might choose the more monetary-policy-dovish Lael Brainard as Fed chair. With Powell remaining as chairman of the Federal Reserve, traders and investors reckon U.S. monetary policy will remain on its present course, compared to notions that Brainard as a new Fed chair would have leaned easier on U.S. money policies," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,802.40 to a high of $1,850.40. They declined 2.3% last week. As recently as Wednesday, they marked their best finish since June 11.
Silver for December delivery lost 48.4 cents to settle at $24.297 an ounce. The finish was the worst since Nov. 5. Silver futures traded between $24.14 and $24.96. They gave back 2.2% last week.
In other precious metals futures prices on Monday:
-
January platinum declined $20.90 to $1,015.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,013.40 to $1,044.
- Palladium for December delivery sank $122.60 to $1,950.60 an ounce, trading between $1,941.50 and $2,084.
Last week platinum dropped 4.9% and palladium declined 2.1%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Monday. 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 | September | October | November | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 29,500 | 67,500 | 135,500 | 73,000 | 1,022,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 94,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 22,000 | 6,000 | 156,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 85,000 | 35,000 | 485,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 11,000 | 24,000 | 41,000 | 26,500 | 327,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 524,500 | 2,735,000 | 1,076,000 | 999,000 | 27,750,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,700 | 8,700 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
