On Thursday, most precious metals saw gains, yet they all experienced declines for the month. Gold had the least unfavorable performance in February, actually ending the day at its second-highest price of the month.
Gold for April delivery rose by $12, or 0.6%, to settle at $2,054.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since gold ended at $2,071.10 an ounce on Feb. 1.
"The bulls and bears are back on a level overall near-term technical playing field. A three-month-old downtrend on the daily bar chart has been negated. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the February high of $2,083.20. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $2,000.00," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold prices shed 0.6% on the month, resulting in a year-to-date loss of 0.8%.
Elsewhere, May silver added 24.9 cents, a rise of 1.1%, closing at $22.885 an ounce. In February, silver prices declined by 1.2%, adding to their year-to-date loss of 5%. On Feb. 16, silver reached its highest settlement of the month at $23.475 an ounce.
In other precious metals prices on Thursday and for the month:
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April platinum slipped b y $1.10, or 0.1%, to end at $884 an ounce, for a 5.2% monthly decline.
- Palladium for June delivery added $14.90, or 1.6%, to finish at $946.80 an ounce, trimming its February loss to 5%.
When evaluating their performance during the two months the year, platinum has exhibited a 12.4% decrease, while palladium has experienced a 14.7% decline.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2024
On Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S. Mint’s published bullion sales were unchanged. On Tuesday, for the first time since Feb. 15, the Mint reported new sales, which included gains of 8,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 8,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and 850,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
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 | January | February | 2024 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 6,500 | 87,500 | 13,000 | 100,5000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25,000 | 0 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46,000 | 4,000 | 50,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 115,000 | 40,000 | 155,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 46,500 | 13,500 | 60,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 850,000 | 4,900,000 | 1,700,000 | 6,600,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
