Precious metals declined as a group for a second straight session Tuesday. Losses were much more modest than the previous day, ranging from 0.3% for platinum to 0.9% for silver. Gold ended at a two-week low.
Gold for December delivery shed $8.40, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,789.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close was the lowest since Aug. 3.
"Gold and silver prices are solidly lower in midday U.S. trading Monday, on demand concerns for the metals after a batch of weak economic data from China. Sharply lower crude oil prices and a stronger U.S. dollar index to start the trading week are also bearish daily forces working against the metals," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $1,785.40 and $1,798. They fell 1% on Monday.
Silver for September delivery gave back 18.7 cents to settle at $20.085 an ounce. The close was silver’s weakest since Aug. 5. Silver futures ranged from $19.86 to $20.25. They dropped 2.1% on Monday.
In other precious metals futures prices Tuesday:
-
October platinum dipped $2.30 to $931.30 an ounce, trading between $921 and $942.
- Palladium for September delivery declined $9.30, or 0.4%, to $2,149 an ounce, ranging from $2,102 and $2,168.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales showed gains on Tuesday for the first time since a week ago Monday, Aug. 8. 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / This Week | Last Week | May | June | July | August | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 6,000 | 21,000 | 164,500 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 27,000 | 712,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 1,000 | 72,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,000 | 50,000 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 540,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 4,500 | 6,500 | 56,000 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 11,000 | 310,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 17,000 | 408,000 | 1,350,000 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 425,000 | 11,981,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 80,000 |
I believe the Mint is still officially saying they do not. From the posts I saw here earlier, some of the customers are agreeing (mine seem ok, though I did not open my set to be 100% sure), some are not. I printed the Mint statement to put with my set. We will find out how good the Mint thinks they really are next year, when we see if the Mint uses the same holder again or quietly uses a different one. Now I am curious as to whether the previous Director initiated this change, or if this was all… Read more »
Sir Kaiser, the Mint’s claim that it is only “an illusion that the coins are damaged” was only published in a message about the set on its Facebook and Twitter accounts. The Mint never issued an official news press release about it on its web site. I did not order the set and have no first hand knowledge, however, I have read the comments from 4 commenters here of which two stated their coins were not damaged and two who stated their coins were damaged. I imagine some people who received the sets have not even opened the shipping box… Read more »