Precious metals split on Thursday with platinum and palladium gaining and gold and silver declining. Gold’s loss was its first in four sessions.
Gold for April delivery dipped $4.90, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,840.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures traded between $1,835.90 and $1,845.30.
"Gold and silver prices are weaker at midday Thursday, as rising U.S. Treasury yields and an appreciating U.S. dollar on the foreign exchange market are bearish outside market forces working against the metals market bulls today," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Silver for May delivery fell 19.4 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $20.901 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $20.76 to $21.10.
In other precious metals prices on Thursday:
-
April platinum added $1.40, or 0.2%, to $963.20 an ounce, trading between $948.90 and $967.70.
- Palladium for June delivery gained $7.30, or 0.5%, to $1,444.90 an ounce, ranging from $1,408.50 to $1,466.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Thursday, the United States Mint adjusted bullion sales for February with combined increases of 9,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 5,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | January Sales | February | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 32,500 | 118,000 | 41,500 | 159,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 7,000 | 37,000 | 8,000 | 45,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 62,000 | 12,000 | 74,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 115,000 | 85,000 | 200,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 14,500 | 59,000 | 19,500 | 78,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 450,000 | 3,949,000 | 900,000 | 4,849,000 |
Silver keeps dropping drastically over the past 12 months or so & especially this year at under $21 per ounce, & the U.S. Mint increases its silver coin & silver medals prices dramatically higher!!?? How much longer can the new U.S. Mint Director blame Covid-19 & inflation??!! The Mint even increased postage by 20% this year while the U.S. Postal Service only increased postage by 6.5%. The Mint even downgraded its packaging quality to the lowest ever in modern times about 2 years ago. Plus, the Mint greatly raised its silver coins & silver medals prices twice in the past… Read more »
Seth, I think the only thing that will get the Mint’s attention will be a drop in sales. I’m certainly inclined to do my part. I wonder, how much of the Mint’s precious metal coin & bullion sales are for IRA accounts? Perhaps this is a contributor if a certain percent of sales is locked in?
Major D.,
Good point. Precious metals IRAs in the USA actually allow some foreign Mint bullion coins…check it out.
NumisdudeTX
Don’t forget the absolutely insane increases in the price of the Mint’s bronze medals!
Palladium is just $6 shy of being worth $500 less an ounce than Gold. Hard to believe.