Precious metals declined on Wednesday. Their losses ranged from 0.6% for palladium to 4% for both silver and platinum. Gold’s decline was its first in five sessions and comes after scoring a 19-month settlement high.
Gold for April delivery dropped $55.10, or 2.7%, to settle at $1,988.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold and silver prices are sharply down in midday U.S. trading Wednesday, on heavy profit-taking from the shorter-term futures traders after gold futures hit a record intra-day high and silver hit an eight-month high on Tuesday. Strong losses in crude oil and other commodity markets today are also helping to pressure the precious metals markets," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures ranged from $1,981 to $2,068.50. They jumped 2.4% on Tuesday to score their highest settlement since Aug. 6, 2020, and they gained 1.5% on Monday.
Silver for May delivery tumbled $1.08 to settle at $25.816 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $25.73 and $27.39. They soared 4.6% on Tuesday for their strongest finish since June 16, and they shed 0.3% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum fell $45.60 to $1,107.60 an ounce, ranging from $1,088.20 to $1,197.
- Palladium for June delivery shed $18.70 to $2,949.80 an ounce, trading between $2,866 and $3,289. On Friday, palladium posted a record settlement of $2,981.90.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday. 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 | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 27,500 | 25,000 | 123,500 | 86,000 | 33,500 | 243,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 | 0 | 0 | 45,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 6,000 | 64,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 74,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 195,000 | 25,000 | 20,000 | 240,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 11,500 | 10,500 | 61,500 | 28,500* | 15,500 | 105,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 482,000 | 5,001,000 | 1,500,000 | 482,000 | 6,983,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 4,700 | 2,500 | N/A | 25,800 | 7,200 | 33,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fast and Furious update on ordering the Palladium coins from the Mint. After suspending sales of the three Palladium American Eagle coins for the past three days due to the Palladium price shock and awe, they are now back for sale at $3,900, a mere $600 price increase from last weekend’s price of $3,300, and only carrying an approximate $1,000 premium (with Palladium spot price at about $2,920 at time of writing). Talk about demand destruction.
That’s a dead on precise appellation, Good Sir Rich, by which I mean your choice of the expression “Fast and Furious”; who could possibly have come up with a more appropriate one in this situation? Clearly the Mint decided to base the price of its current Palladium inventory at eventual replacement rather than original purchase cost; no dummies there. The price of the Mint’s Palladium coinage – which is quite likely soon to be followed by that of its Gold and Platinum products also – has now gone from simply prohibitive to completely preposterous. For the moment the Mint’s Silver… Read more »
It does feel like the Mint is squeezing us between a Phalanx and a Pincer.
Good Sir Rich,
Thank you for the politeness. Gruff old me would say a Vice and a Nutcracker.