Precious metals declined together for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, except for palladium, which managed to gain on Wednesday. These losses, following hotter-than-expected inflation data, ranged from 0.4% for gold to 1.6% for silver. The former marked another four-week low, while the latter ended the day at its weakest price in two months.
Actually, registering a fifth consecutive session decline, gold for February delivery lost $8.60 to close at $2,019.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. For a fourth day in a row, the settlement was the lowest since Dec. 13.
"Gold and silver prices are lower in midday U.S. trading Thursday, with gold hitting a four-week low and silver a two-month low. Today’s losses came in the wake of U.S. inflation report that came in a bit hotter than expected, rallying the U.S. dollar index and prompting an up-tick in U.S. Treasury yields," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Earlier on Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that consumer prices climbed by 0.3% in December, after edging 0.1% higher in November, while annual inflation rose to 3.4% from 3.1%.
Gold futures traded between $2,017.30 and $2,056.10. They shed 0.3% on Wednesday, they edged down by 50 cents on Tuesday, and they declined by 0.8% on Monday.
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery fell by 36.1 cents, ending at $22.705 an ounce. The settlement marked silver’s weakest since Nov. 13. Silver futures ranged from $22.63 to $23.40. They dipped by 0.1% on Wednesday, they lost 0.9% on Tuesday, and they slipped by a half cent on Monday.
In other precious metals prices on Thursday:
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April platinum gave back $10, or 1.1%, to $919.60 an ounce, trading between $918 and $941.70.
- Falling for the twelfth time in thirteen sessions, palladium for March delivery declined by $12.20, or 1.2%, to $983 an ounce, ranging from $981.50 to $1,033. On Wednesday, palladium scored its first daily gain since Dec. 21, rising by 1.9%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2024
On Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S. Mint did not publish any changes in bullion sales. On Tuesday, the bureau reported bullion sales gains, including 16,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 850,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles, and 9,000 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | November | December | 2023 Sales | January | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 39,500 | 12,500 | 40,000 | 15,000 | 924,000 | 52,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 17,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 102,000 | 21,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 30,000 | 6,000 | 16,000 | 0 | 198,000 | 36,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 40,000 | 5,000 | 55,000 | 15,000 | 675,000 | 45,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 23,000 | 9,000 | 14,000 | 5,500 | 387,000 | 32,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 3,179,000 | 850,000 | 2,378,000 | 525,000 | 24,750,000 | 4,029,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 | 0 |
Glad I never bought any of the 1 oz. palladium coins from the mint. As much as I wanted too, their price point always seemed extravagant to me. I believe they were asking around $3200 for the 2017 coins, don’t hold me to that, and now you can buy ‘perfect’ coins for a little over $2K. This is a prime example of how FOMO can kill you financially!