Gold rallied on Monday to a more than one-and-a-half-year high while silver, platinum and palladium declined.
Gold for April delivery tacked on $29.30, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,995.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close was the highest since Aug. 18, 2020, when gold ended at $2,013.10 an ounce.
"Gold remains an attractive asset to own beyond the geopolitical issues currently dominating the headlines, as the second order consequence of events in the form of stagflation takes root," Ross Norman, chief executive officer at Metals Daily, told MarketWatch.
Gold futures ranged from $1,964.20 to $2,007.50. They jumped 4.2% last week.
Silver for May delivery shed 6.9 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $25.72 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $25.46 and $26.37. They soared 7.4% last week, ending Friday at their highest price since July 16.
In other precious metals futures on Monday:
-
April platinum dipped 20 cents, or 0.02%, to $1,116.80 an ounce, ranging from $1,106 to $1,162.40.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $80, or 2.7%, to $2,901.90 an ounce after scoring a record settlement on Friday. Palladium traded between $2,800.50 and $3,425.
Last week, platinum gained 6.4% and palladium rallied 26.1%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales increased on Monday by 482,000 ounces in silver coins; 2,500 ounces in platinum coins, and a combined 41,500 ounces in gold coins.
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 | January | February | March | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 25,000 | 27,500 | 123,500 | 86,000 | 33,500 | 243,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 45,000 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 6,000 | 0 | 64,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 74,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 20,000 | 0 | 195,000 | 25,000 | 20,000 | 240,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 10,500 | 11,500 | 61,500 | 28,500* | 15,500 | 105,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 482,000 | 0 | 5,001,000 | 1,500,000 | 482,000 | 6,983,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 2,500 | 4,700 | N/A | 25,800 | 7,200 | 33,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
This article was edited to include updated U.S. Mint bullion figures.
That’s the best deal out there, as a quarter is now worth 7.3 cents and a dime is worth 2.9 cents. At least a penny is still worth 1 cent!
neither did the mint
c_q, Major D and Rich,
I saw a report this A.M. that zinc is at $4,248/ton. The sky’s the limit!
Addendum:
The above affects the cent as it consists of 97.5% Zinc and 2.5% copper. It appears that one by one the metals the Mint employs to make our circulating coinage are becoming far more valuable than the face values of the coins they make up. Which of course leads me to wonder how long the Mint can afford to let this situation not just go on but get much more costly and therefore ever more urgent and serious.
Yeah, Sir Kaiser, as I just mentioned to Major D, the penny is now worth over 3 times its face value! As of today’s (3/8/22) current circulating coin values, the penny (cent) Melt Value is 3.1 cents with a Metal % of Face Value = 311%. Time to bust open the coin jars and empty those jugs (and fire-up the furnace [not]).
The Mint may be having difficulties at this time offering their Palladium products for sale at the price set on Wednesday (3/6/22). As of today all three of the Palladium coins that had been available to order are now “Currently Not Available” and price is TBD. Through Sunday (3/6/2022), all three of these coins had been for sale and the sales figures for each were: 2021 Palladium Proof = 4,943 (product limit = 12,000) 2020 Palladium Uncirculated = 9,646 (product limit = 10,000) 2019 Palladium Reverse Proof = 18,736 (product limit = 30,000) On another note, we now know the… Read more »
Correction to the above: in the first sentence, …”for sale at the price set on Wednesday (3/6/22)” should read …for sale at the price set on Wednesday (3/2/22)
Major D, regarding your report on the metal value of a Nickel, today nickel prices soared as much as 82% to $52,700 a metric ton, the highest in the 35-year history of the contract trading on the London Metal Exchange, as fears over Russian supplies triggered a historic short squeeze according to Bloomberg. The metal added more than $22,700 to trade at a record-high $52,700 a metric ton. That builds on nickel’s 19% surge last week
Major D, the explosive, parabolic rise in nickel prices continues today with Nickel Halted After Historic 250% Surge – here is the latest update: Commodity trading houses and hedging producers are being forced out of their short nickel bets adding to an unprecedented short squeeze that had sent nickel prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) up as much as 250% in two trading days above $100k per ton, before the exchange issued an unprecedented trading suspension on Tuesday morning.
FYI, by today’s current melt value, a penny is worth 3 cents.
Canadian 5 cents were 100% nickel when I lived there in the ’70s. I still have some. My oldest is 1937 when the beaver design was first introduced. Now Canadian 5 cents are nickel plated steel. That’s an option the mint could take.
JUST THE FACTS……………………………….
https://www.usdebtclock.org/
BRANDS WHO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT PUTIN
Mickey D just closed their 850 food joints in Russia today nearly 2 weeks after the invasion. Their food may be fast but their pulling out wasn’t fast enough.
That’s Great News Rich,
Let’s Celebrate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OY5lIWslhs
SENZA, you may have started something. And now Coca Cola Suspends Business In Russia. Hours after McDonald’s announced plans to shutter every restaurant in Russia, Coca Cola followed suit, announcing on Tuesday that the company would no longer sell its products in the country, according to Bloomberg.
Damn, SENZA! Now Starbucks and Pepsi have jumped on the bandwagon and have suspended business in Russia.