Gold, Other Metals Retreat; Bullion American Eagles Rise Modestly

U.S. gold and other precious metals tumbled Friday, giving back gains they made earlier in the week. A poor batch of readings on Friday, to include flat inflation data and plunging consumer sentiment, were cited as the precipitating factors in gold’s $20.10 one-day loss. Other metals simply followed gold’s lead.

"The [US inflation] data was a bit disappointing, and it created a deflationary scare. There was a move out of paper assets and equities into Treasuries, and precious metals were caught in the middle," James Steel, chief commodities analyst at HSBC, was quoted on Reuters.

In weekly New York precious metals prices, New York gold for August delivery closed to $1,188.20 an ounce, falling 21.60 or 1.8%. September silver finished at $17.788 an ounce, dropping 28.5 cents or 1.6% for the week. In PGM metals, October platinum fell $21.10 or 1.4% to end at $1,512.10 an ounce while September palladium closed at $448.60 an ounce, falling $8.35 or 1.8%.

In London bullion weekly prices, the gold fix was $1,189.25 an ounce for a loss of $19.50 or 1.6%.

"Following the confirmation that inflation is indeed wilting faster than the flora in many a park during this heat wave, the metals’ complex took a further liquidation hit," wrote Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc. "The inflation that the gold market appeared to be factoring in during the past nine months has turned out to be little more than a figment of someone’s imagination," added Nadler.

London silver was $18.250 an ounce for an increase of 38.0 cents or 2.1%. Platinum was $1,512.00 an ounce, dropping $15.00, or 1.0%. And palladium was $456.00 an ounce, which gave it a weekly pick-up of $2.00 or 0.4%.

Bullion price performance tables for the last several weeks follow:

London Fix Weekly Bullion Prices – July 2010

Weekly U.S. Gold and Silver Coin News

The following link provides information on recent United States Mint bullion coins news and gold and silver coin sales figures:

• American Silver Eagles Move Toward Record
  To sum up the latest United States Mint sales report, coins and sets experienced a deeper summer slowdown compared to prior weeks.

  Of everything the U.S. Mint sold, there were only four that managed to do better than the prior report, and those not improve by much. Bullion coins, however are still in demand.

  Bullion American Silver Eagle coins climbed to bring July’s total to 1,648,000, adding 772,500 since July 7. The gain was soft compared to the higher 875,500 increase during the first week of the month. Still, the addition caused this year’s tally to cross the 2008 end-of-year total. 2010 Silver Eagles sales are at 19,816,500 while 2008′s ended with 19,583,500…

U.S. Mint Bullion Eagle Sales

In United States Mint bullion coin sales, all but the one-fourth ounce American Gold Eagle advanced since last Friday. Weekly additions include:

• American Buffalo Gold coins climbed 7,500
• One ounce American Gold Eagles increased 22,500
• One-half ounce American Gold Eagles advanced 1,000
• One-tenth ounce American Gold Eagles added 20,000
• American Silver Eagles rose 547,000

The following coin sales table has the latest published sales figures from the U.S. Mint:

U.S. Mint Bullion Coin July 2010 Sales

	June 2010	July 2010	2010 Total
American Buffalo Gold	33,500	16,000	176,500
American Eagle Gold 1 oz	97,000	65,000	683,500
American Eagle Gold 1/2 oz	31,000	1,000	32,000
American Eagle Gold 1/4 oz	44,000	0	44,000
American Eagle Gold 1/10 oz	280,000	30,000	310,000
American Eagle Silver	3,001,000	1,648,000	19,816,500

 

Figures above are in coins, not ounces of gold sold.