On Wednesday, precious metals moved in all directions: gold remained flat, silver rose, while both platinum and palladium experienced a decline.
Gold for August delivery was unchanged at $1,980.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Again, the settlement was the highest since June 6.
"The market is very confident that rate hikes will end soon and disinflation is in place. After the Fed meet, if the market is convinced the Fed will no longer maintain the extremely hawkish stance, gold prices could reach $2,000," MarketWatch quoted Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
On the day, gold futures traded between $1,973.30 and $1,984.60, after rising by 1.3% on Tuesday and falling by 0.4% on Monday.
Advancing for fifth time in six sessions, silver for September added 13.1 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $25.387 an ounce — the best settlement since May 10. Silver futures ranged from $25.14 and $25.46, after climbing by 1% on Tuesday and shedding 0.7% on Monday.
In PGM futures prices on Wednesday:
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October platinum fell by $9.60, or 1%, to $984.80 an ounce, trading between $980.10 and $998.
- Palladium for September delivery declined by $9.10, or 0.7%, to $1,307.40 an ounce, ranging from $1,283 to $1,319.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Last week, on Tuesday, the U.S. Mint reported the first bullion sales gains for the month and published updated figures for June. Since then, there have been no further reports of bullion sales.
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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday / This Week | Last Week / July | March | April | May | June | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 12,000 | 211,000 | 159,500 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 637,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 73,000 | 61,000 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 279,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 414,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 10,138,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 7,500 | 500 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 12,700 |
