Precious metals declined as a group on Monday, following their two straight session gains. Losses on the day ranged from 0.6% for gold to 2.2% for palladium.
Gold for February delivery shed $10.30 to settle at $1,794.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The safe-haven metals were unable to benefit from a risk-off trader and investor mentality in the marketplace to start the holiday-shortened trading week. A big drop in crude oil prices today apparently trumped the safe-haven trade in the metals,” Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,789 to a high of $1,804.60. They gained 1.1% last week, ending Friday at their best price since Nov. 22.
Silver for March delivery fell 24.1 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $22.291 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $22.19 and $22.44. They traded 1.5% higher last week.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
-
January platinum declined $8.10, or 0.9%, to $926.40 an ounce, ranging from $909.20 to $932.
- Palladium for March delivery fell $38.90 to $1,745.90 an ounce, trading between $1,688 and $1,778.
Last week platinum edged 0.03% higher and palladium rose 2%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
Published United States 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 | October | November | December | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 14,500 | 135,500 | 125,500 | 41,000 | 1,115,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 95,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 22,000 | 10,000 | 2,000 | 162,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 85,000 | 40,000 | 0 | 490,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 41,000 | 39,500 | 10,500 | 350,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,076,000 | 1,523,500 | 0 | 28,275,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,700 | 0 | 8,700 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
