Gold prices marked a fifth straight day of gains on Thursday despite newly released data showing falling US inflation. The Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index fell 0.3% in May, which is the deepest drop since late 2008. Lower inflation is traditionally bearish for gold prices, but the news along with weaker US jobs data was greeted with more optimism that the Federal Reserve had more room for QE3, which would be bullish for gold.
"The data out this morning reignited the possibility of further U.S. easing, and that’s supportive to gold. The market has been characterized with a lot of volatility due to market speculations about Federal Reserve monetary easing," Reuters quoted James Steel, metals analyst at HSBC.
Gold prices for August delivery edged up 20 cents to settle at $1,619.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold ranged from and intraday low of $1,610.40 an ounce to a high of $1,629 an ounce.
In other precious metals futures, July silver prices declined 53.4 cents, or 1.8%, to $28.41 an ounce, September palladium prices added 11.60, or 1.9%, to $634.90 an ounce, and July platinum prices gained $20.80, or 1.4%, to $1,487.60 an ounce.
The following grid offers precious metals futures on a daily basis along with the most recent two-day changes.
| New York Futures – Bullion Prices | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thurs | Daily Change ($/%) |
|
| July Silver Prices | $28.62 | $28.41 | $29.49 | $28.41 | -$0.534 -1.8% |
| Aug. Gold Prices | $1,596.80 | $1,616.90 | $1,634.20 | $1,619.60 |
$0.20 |
| July Platinum Prices | $1,449.30 | $1,440.50 | $1,469.20 | $1,487.60 | $20.80 1.4% |
| Sept. Palladium Prices | $625.15 | $619.80 | $632.80 | $634.90 | $11.60 1.9% |
United States Mint Bullion Sales
The lone coin gainer Thursday was the bullion Silver Eagle with an increase of 40,000, according to the United States Mint. That extended the coin’s series of consecutive increases to an impressive eight days.
All bullion coin totals are offered in the daily, June and 2012 sales columns below.
| Sales of United States Mint 2012 Bullion Coins | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thurs | June | 2012 Sales | |
| 1 oz American Eagle Gold Coins | 3,000 | 2,000 | 2,500 | 0 | 17,500 | 247,500 |
| 1/2 oz American Eagle Gold Coins | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 55,000 |
| 1/4 oz American Eagle Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46,000 |
| 1/10 oz American Eagle Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 155,000 |
| 1 oz American Buffalo Gold Coins | 500 | 0 | 1,500 | 0 | 3,500 | 68,500 |
| 5 oz America the Beautiful Silver Coins | 300 | 00 | 1,000 | 0 | 2,700 | 16,300 |
| 1 oz American Silver Eagle | 158,500 | 25,000 | 200,000 | 40,000 | 1,161,500 | 15,695,500 |
Notes: The sales of bullion coins above are in numbers sold, not ounces sold.
London Bullion Prices
London bullion prices moved narrowly Thursday with the exception of platinum. The following grid provides London PM Fix daily bullion prices this week with the latest two-day increases.
| London Bullion Prices (PM Fixings) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thurs | Daily Change ($/%) |
|
| Silver Prices | $28.63 | $28.54 | $28.87 | $28.88 | $0.01 0.0% |
| Gold Prices | $1,584.00 | $1,603.50 | $1,619.50 | $1,613.50 | -$6.00 -0.4% |
| Platinum Prices | $1,452.00 | $1,443.00 | $1,460.00 | $1,485.00 | $25.00 1.7% |
| Palladium Prices | $623.00 | $624.00 | $625.00 | $624.50 | -$0.50 -0.1% |
Refer to this site’s home page for always updated bullion prices and news.
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