Precious metals divided on Monday with gold and silver marking modest losses and platinum and palladium scoring robust gains.
Gold for December delivery shed $5.30, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,678.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"What is driving the hesitation for scaling into a long-term position with gold is that investors are not convinced that even when the Fed pauses, that might not guarantee they are done hiking (interest rates)," Edward Moya, senior analyst with OANDA, said in a note according to Reuters.
Gold futures traded between $1,667.60 and $1,688.80. They lost 2.6% last week. On Thursday, gold at $1,677.30 an ounce closed at its lowest price since April 3, 2020.
Silver for December delivery dipped 2.3 cents, or 0.1%, to end at $19.358 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $19.23 to $19.69. They surged 3.3% last week.
In other precious metals futures prices on Monday:
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October platinum tacked on $17.50, or 1.9%, to $918.50 an ounce, trading between $895.20 and $924.
- Palladium for December delivery rallied $108, or 5.1%, to $2,220.70 an ounce, ranging from $2,100 to $2,233.
Last week, platinum advanced 2.8% and palladium fell 3%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
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 | May | June | July | August | September | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 164,500 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 47,500 | 20,000 | 753,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 138,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 50,000 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 5,000 | 550,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 56,000 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 22,500 | 11,500 | 333,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,350,000 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 425,000 | 12,831,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 0 | 80,000 |
Gold is unchanged and silver is holding its own.
Spot gold closed up a Buck.