Precious metals recorded across-the-board losses at the beginning of the trading week on Monday. The losses ranged from 0.7% for both platinum and palladium to 1.5% for gold.
After three consecutive gains, gold for April delivery ended lower for a second session, dropping $30 to settle at $1,953.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold prices are solidly lower and silver modestly down in midday U.S. trading Monday. Both metals’ prices are up from their daily lows, however. Less risk aversion in the marketplace early this week is prompting profit taking and weak long liquidation from the futures traders," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $1,945 and $1,984, and climbed 0.5% last week, marking their fourth consecutive weekly gain. On Thursday, the price of gold reached $1,995.90 an ounce, logging its highest settlement since March 10, 2022.
After reaching a seven-week high, silver for May delivery fell for the first time in four sessions, shedding 19.4 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $23.145 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $23 to $23.49. Last week, they soared 3.9%, ending Friday at their highest settlement since Feb. 2.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
-
April platinum declined $6.80 to $977.10 an ounce, trading between $963.70 and $986.90.
- Palladium for June delivery fell $10.30 to $1,404.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,389 to $1,422.
Last week, platinum rose 0.5% and palladium gained 2%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Monday. 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | January Sales | February | March | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 107,500 | 118,000 | 41,500 | 157,500 | 317,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 37,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 46,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 62,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 84,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 115,000 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 210,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 38,500 | 59,000 | 19,500 | 57,500 | 136,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 450,000 | 3,949,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 5,749,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 7,500 | N/A | N/A | 7,500 | 7,500 |
This price movement in gold is frustrating. One day I’m thinking about buying a place in Dubai, the next day Baltimore.
Craig, For your hypothetical situation -Dubai, UAE, as you probably know, does not tax the buying & selling of gold, & there is no income tax there. But, their social laws are very strict – homosexuality is outlawed, alcohol consumption in public is outlawed for citizens (tourists have to pay for an alcohol license to buy alcohol in restaurants & bars), it is against the law to try to convert a Muslim to Christianity, public displays of intimate affection are highly frowned upon & the press is not totally free. It’s amazing to me that so many USA celebrities travel… Read more »
Baltimore may have street crime, Craig and Seth, but at least the authorities there aren’t medievalist theocrats like the unquestioned powers that be in Dubai.
Kaiser, Is that photo from your wedding album?
As you can see, Craig, she is by far the loveliest of my many wives.
Seth,
The Inner Harbour area is the only area I would travel to in Baltimore. I used to live about 20 minutes outside Baltimore (when I was just a young lad) and have seen it degrade into the ghetto it basically is today.
As far as Dubai, since gays are outlawed, does that mean we don’t have to watch guys fondling each other in all those HIV drug commercials? I’m going to start growing a beard today!
Perhaps you’ll even prefer the Saturday afternoon stonings to watching TV.
Sorry, Craig, that was indeed a bit harsh. Mea culpa, my friend.
With the banking crises cooling and interest rates on the rise, gold will have trouble making serious gains other than an occasional blip above $2000.
The 2yr Treasury is back above 4% and the 10y is trading above its 3.5% coupon. I just locked in a 18mo call protected CD at 5.4%.
I’ve come to the realization that one of the main reasons gold is preferred (and priced, which of course becomes a circular process due to the advantage described here) over silver is because dollar for dollar it’s just that much easier, i.e. convenient to store.