Precious metals diverged on Monday, with prices of gold and silver closing lower and those for platinum and palladium climbing higher.
Down for a second session, after reaching a one-month high and logging four consecutive gains, gold for April delivery gave back $10.80, or 0.5%, to settle at $2,042.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold and silver prices are solidly lower in midday U.S. trading Monday, as the key ‘outside markets’ are in bearish daily postures for the precious metals: the U.S. dollar index is firmly higher and U.S. Treasury yields are rising,” Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $2,030.80 and $2,059.10. They advanced by 1.8% last week. On Thursday, the yellow metal settled at $2,071.10 an ounce marked for its highest price since Jan. 2. Year-to-date, gold is down 0.9%.
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery shed 37.4 cents, or 1.6%, ending at $22.422 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $22.32 to $22.84. They slipped by 0.3% last week.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
-
April platinum edged up by $1.90, or 0.2%, to $903.50 an ounce, trading between $897.20 and $910.70.
- Palladium for March delivery rose by $7.10, or 0.8%, to $956.10 an ounce, ranging from $925.50 to $962.
Last week, platinum fell by 2.1% and palladium declined by 1.3%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2024
The U.S. Mint last updated its bullion sales figures on Thursday, Feb. 1, when it adjusted bullion sales for January, increasing American Gold Eagles by 3,500 ounces and American Gold Buffalos by 500 ounces.
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 / February | Last Week | November | December | 2023 Sales | January | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 16,500 | 40,000 | 15,000 | 924,000 | 87,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 102,000 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 16,000 | 0 | 198,000 | 46,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 55,000 | 15,000 | 675,000 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,000 | 14,000 | 5,500 | 387,000 | 46,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,378,000 | 525,000 | 24,750,000 | 4,900,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 | 0 |
Now I’m really confused. Magic Mike claims there’s a 20 million ounce shortfall in Ag every month, for use in commerce activities and coin production, yet it continues to fall in price to just $22.42/ounce. I know for a fact that Magic Mike never lies, or should I say ‘misspeak’, so what’s up. I might just have to buy another roll of those ASE’s if its price continues to degrade.
Our Fed Reserve Chief said our country is on an ‘unsustainable fiscal path’ on 60 minutes. Well Duh!, as Homer Simpson would say.
Several mines shut down. And other large miners in south America closed. All those good people protesting there scared em, then throw in those Venezuelans and Ecuadorians and Argentinian refugees there and no chance they will open soon. I wonder why the news doesn’t report on the south American refugee crisis. Ohhhh. Riiiight, or should I say left.
If all the mines are closed and the demand for silver is high, wouldn’t that argue for a sharp upward price movement? I’m old school, so when demand is high and supply is low, that used to indicate high inflation with corresponding high price points. Or must I re-imagine all of my financial knowledge too! Maybe we could get bidens press secretary KJP ( the eye blinker) to explain this conundrum.
My understanding is it is mostly tied to the power of the dollar. BRICS and India are snatching up gold left and right. The issue is the paper gold and shorter hedges are being manipulated to prop up the stock market. As Fred Sanford (omg the racist watched a lot of black TV and music… how can this be) would say regarding the crash, “this is the big one, I’m coming to you”
I don’t have the power of foresight to predict such an occurrence, damn I got shorted again, but I’d be really surprised if there were to be a serious ‘correction’ in the stock market this year. After all, there is an election coming up and I just don’t ‘see’ the democrats allowing such an event to taint the magnificent presidency of uncle Joe. He has this country humming economically and we’ve never in history been more unified as a people or country. Why spoil such perfection by having the stock market correct/crash.
Just heard King Charles has cancer. Might have to pick up a few coins with his effigy on them. Just in case!
Good thinking Craig.
You and just about everyone else. But let’s face it, they always wanted the queen on the coin. In a couple years the portrait will be a skull
PetHelpful
Lovable Dog Steals the Show in Budweiser’s New Super Bowl LVIII Commercial with Clydesdales
Hey I think they stole my models beet commercial idea. Lol
And to think there are people on this site that won’t even read your insightful posts Dazed. But Budweiser sure did! Now if they insert that frog character in it as well, then I think you ought to sue for plagiarism. I’ll expect 5% of the settlement amount for the advice, OK?
5% is fair. If you were president you’d warrant 10%, buy just being a peon like me, 5% is fair.