During normal trade hours Wednesday, prices for palladium dropped while those for gold, silver and platinum were little change. After-hour dealings saw metals initially rise following the Fed’s announced to hike in interest rates again, but they then fell during Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference.
Up for a second day following three straight losses, gold for December settled higher by 30 cents, or 0.02%, to $1,650 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold future traded between $1,639.10 and $1,673.10. They rose 0.6% on Tuesday and they and dipped 0.3% on Monday.
On Wednesday following a two-day monetary policy meeting, the Fed’s FOMC raised the benchmark federal-funds rate by 0.75%for a fourth time in a row to a range between 3.75% and 4%.
In electronic trading, gold drove above $1,673 after the announcement but then fell below $1,640 during Powell’s press conference in which he signaled that the pace of rate hikes could slow but rates may end up higher than previously thought.
"Powell is giving the Fed the option of decelerating to 50 bps but preventing a mad market rally by emphasizing how high rates will be and how long they will stay there while taking the focus off the speed of rate hikes," Reuters quoted Tai Wong, a senior trader at Heraeus Precious Metals in New York.
Silver for December delivery lost 7.3 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $19.594 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $19.28 to $20.11. They soared 2.9% on Tuesday, for their best close since Oct. 7, and they slipped 0.2% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
January platinum added 40 cents, or 0.04%, to $950.90 an ounce, trading between $940 and $964.80.
- Palladium for December delivery dropped $26.90, or 1.4%, to $1,850.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,842 to $1,910.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2022
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged on 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 / November | June | July | August | September | October | 2022 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 31,000 | 59,500 | 47,500 | 47,500 | 59,500 | 840,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 75,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 18,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 140,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 135,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 575,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 21,500 | 39,500 | 22,500 | 44,500 | 39,500 | 405,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 925,000 | 850,000 | 850,000 | 833,000 | 1,258,000 | 14,497,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 23,500 | 15,500 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 |
Gold is still sovereign.
I have pretty much gold but no body has asked me what I think about what’s important, like lift the ban on owning 1933 double eagles. I mean come on now.