Precious metals declined as a group for three consecutive days until Thursday, when silver, platinum, and palladium broke the mold with gains. Meanwhile, gold dropped for the fourth day in a row, ending at another six-and-a-half-month low.
Gold for December delivery gave back $12.30, or 0.7%, to settle at $1,878.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For a second straight day, the settlement was the lowest since March 10 when gold ended at $1,867.20 an ounce.
"Gold has completely fallen out of fashion. In the absence of more promising U.S. data on inflation and the labour market, it may remain a tough environment for gold," Craig Erlam, senior markets analyst at OANDA, wrote in a note.
Gold futures traded between $1,874.50 and $1,896.80. They lost 1.5% on Wednesday, they declined by 0.9% on Tuesday, and they slipped by 0.5% on Monday.
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery edged up by 1.7 cents, or 0.07%, to end at $22.741 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $22.61 and $22.96. They fell by 2% on Wednesday, marking their weakest close since Aug. 17, they shed 0.8% on Tuesday, and they dropped by 1.9% on Monday.
In other precious metals prices on Thursday:
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January platinum advanced by $18.80, or 2.1%, to $915.10 an ounce, trading between $894.10 and $917.50.
- Palladium for December delivery soared by $54.80, or 4.5%, to $1,278.50 an ounce, with prices ranging between $1,221and $1,287.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint bullion sales have remained unchanged since Wednesday, Sept. 13. 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday / This Week | Last Week | July | August | September | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 41,000 | 78,000 | 12,000 | 756,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 85,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 22,000 | 156,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 150,000 | 35,000 | 570,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 16,500 | 19,500 | 15,500 | 328,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 209,100,000 | 3,124,000 | 1,502,000 | 16,441,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
Costco is selling 1 oz gold bars to Costco members. Well, until they sold out.