Prices for precious metals dropped on Monday, with silver leading the way with a 3.7% loss — its first decline in seven sessions. Gold prices initially surged earlier in the day but later retraced those gains after ending on Friday at a record high.
Gold for February delivery dropped by $47.50, or 2.3%, to settle at $2,042.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The two precious metals markets [gold and silver] are seeing the shorter-term futures traders taking profits after the recent solid gains. Importantly, today’s price action in gold and silver suggests the bulls are now near-term exhausted and that near-term (but not longer-term) market tops are in place," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note. "By this I mean that gold and silver prices have probably peaked for at least a few weeks, it not a while longer, but after that new highs are probable — likely sometime in 2024."
Gold futures traded between $2,038.40 and $2,152.30. They jumped by 4.3% last week, ending Friday at an all-time high of $2,089.70 an ounce.
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery tumbled by 95 cents to settle at $24.907 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $24.78 to $26.34. They soared by 6.2% last week, ending Friday at their highest price since May 9.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
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January platinum fell by $11, or 1.2%, closing at $925.10 an ounce, trading between $916 and $949.60.
- Falling for a fifth session, palladium for March delivery lost $29.70, or 2.9%, to $980.70 an ounce, ranging from $965.50 to $1,021.
Last week, platinum slipped by 0.09%, while palladium sank by 6%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint bullion sales last changed on Wednesday, Nov. 29, and those gains were the third for this month. Advances included 15,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 939,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles, and 1,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | August | September | October | November | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 12,500 | 78,000 | 27,500 | 97,000 | 35,000 | 904,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 13,000 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 101,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 18,000 | 14,000 | 196,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 150,000 | 40,000 | 30,000 | 55,000 | 660,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 36,500 | 11,500 | 379,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 939,000 | 3,124,000 | 2,970,000 | 3,938,000 | 2,378,000 | 24,225,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
Yellow up, white down