In precious metals on Wednesday, gold and silver advanced, while platinum and palladium declined. Aside from palladium, their pricing changes were modest. Gains in gold and silver marked their second in a row, following three straight losses.
Gold for August delivery rose by $6.40, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,970.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal saw little change in after-hours trade, last near $1,972 an ounce, immediately after news of the Fed raising its key interest rates.
"Gold prices are moderately higher in afternoon U.S. trading Wednesday and have shown little initial reaction to the U.S. central bank raising its main interest rate by a small amount, which was fully expected by the marketplace," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
On Wednesday, the central bank’s interest-rate setting committee wrapped up a two-day session and announced a hike of 0.25% to its benchmark federal-funds rate, bringing it to a range between 5.25% and 5.50%, an 11th increase since March 2022, and a 22-year high.
On the day, gold futures traded between $1,963.20 and $1,976.30, after edging 0.08% higher on Tuesday and sliding 0.2% on Monday.
Silver for September tacked on 14.6 cents, 0.6%, and closed at $24.97 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $24.67 and $25.13, after increasing by 1% on Tuesday and falling by 1.1% on Monday.
In PGM futures prices on Wednesday:
-
October platinum fell by $4.60, or 0.5%, to $972 an ounce, ranging from $959.60 to $979.10.
- Palladium for September delivery declined by $25.30, or 2%, to $1,255.90 an ounce, trading between $1,233 and $1,287.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Monday, the U.S. Mint reported bullion sales gains for only the second time this month. 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 | Last Week | This Week | May | June | July | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 24,000 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 36,000 | 661,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 0 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 0 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 0 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 11,000 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 13,500 | 290,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 790,000 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 1,240,000 | 10,928,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 0 | 12,700 |
Sir Kaiser- I’d love to own more gold coins than I do now (1/2 oz 1999 proof and 1915 1/4 eagle Indian $2.50), but the price just hurts too much. I can easily remember gold at $600/oz. Back then, I was just starting out and had no free cash…but think of what $10K invested back then would have become! I am fortunate enough to have inherited coin collections from both grandfathers. Every time I get the coins out, I feel a connection to them One collected old US silver; the other was interested more in modern world coins and ancient… Read more »
Sir Kaiser-
I do believe that any coin collection that is claimed to be “complete” is only an indication of fatigue or frustration!
Gentleman,
You are both spot on in regards to “complete” collections – even the U.S. Mint does not own one of each coin it has struck since 1792. The Mint’s core collection was donated to the Smithsonian museum decades ago, but was & is incomplete. The person who came the closest to having a complete set of U.S. Mint coinage was banker Louis E. Eliasberg of Baltimore, MD.
NumisdudeTX