Precious metals declined on Tuesday, led by a nearly 3.1% drop in palladium. Gold fell the least, percentage-wise, down by about 0.1%. Meanwhile, silver gave back 1% and ended at an eight-week low.
Gold for June delivery lost $2.70 to settle at $1,974.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures traded between $1,955.80 and $1977.10, after dipping 0.2% on Monday.
Elsewhere, silver for July delivery fell 23.7 cents to close at $23.624 an ounce. The settlement was the lowest since March 29. Silver futures ranged from $23.23 and $24.81, after declining 0.8% on Monday.
"An appreciating U.S. dollar index that hit a two-month high today, as well as rising U.S. Treasury yields, have the gold and silver market bulls in hiding. Chart-based selling is also featured recently as the near-term technical postures for both metals have deteriorated," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
In other precious metals prices for the day:
-
July platinum dropped $19.70, or 1.8%, to $1,057.60 an ounce, trading between $1,057.10 and $1,079.40.
- Palladium for June delivery tumbled $45.50 to $1,446.70, ranging from $1,441 to $1,493.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Also on Tuesday, the sales figures published by the U.S. Mint revealed an increase in bullion coins, marking the first gains observed this week. The increases consisted of:
- 18,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles,
- 6,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and
- 47,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday / This Week | Last Week | February | March | April | May | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 18,000 | 21,500 | 41,500 | 211,000 | 159,000 | 52,500 | 582,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 0 | 54,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 18,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 18,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 0 | 245,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 6,000 | 9,500 | 19,500 | 73,000 | 61,000 | 38,500 | 251,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 47,000 | 403,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 7,549,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | 7,500 | 500 | 0 | 8,000 |
How about the star spangled banner? It’s still flying high.
I remember but I was rarely allowed to stay up that late.