Gold, Silver and Other Metals Retreat, Bullion Eagles Unchanged

U.S. gold marked a second day of lower prices, and other precious metals joined in with their own losses. Gold declined $6.60 on Thursday, its biggest drop in nearly three weeks.

"Comex gold futures prices closed lower Thursday on profit taking pressure and amid a slight uptick in investor risk appetite," wrote Jim Wyckoff of Kitco News. " The U.S. stock indexes pushed modestly higher Thursday, while U.S. Treasury prices sold off, following a weekly U.S. jobless claims report that showed claims dropped more than expected. The firmer stock indexes and weaker Treasury prices did suggest traders were willing to move into riskier assets than gold and bonds, at least for the time being."

In New York bullion prices, gold futures for December delivery closed to $1,250.90 for a loss of 0.5%. Gold hit a low of $1,243.50 an ounce and reached a high of $1,260.50 an ounce.

Silver for December delivery fell 15.4 cents or 0.8% to finish the trading day at $19.855 an ounce.

In PGM metals, October platinum lost $8.90 or 0.6% to end at $1,553.30 an ounce while December palladium closed to $521.80 an ounce for a loss of $5.30 or 1%.

In London bullion prices, the gold fix was unchanged at $1,255.00 an ounce.

"We have a much more positive tone surrounding the financial arena, and that’s not what gold thrives on," Bill O’Neill, managing partner at Logic Investment Services, was quoted on MarketWatch. "Gold is very much a psychological commodity, and today the tone has changed a bit."

Palladium was also the same for a second day at $523.00 an ounce. In other metals, silver was $19.970 an ounce for a loss of 5 cents or 0.2% while platinum was $1,552.00 an ounce for a loss of $3 or 0.2%.

In United States Mint coin news, Tarek Saab of Trusted Bullion discusses the legal requirements in question over using U.S. domestic sources of silver to produce bullion American Silver Eagles. Saab states that there is an "incredible amount of confusion" over the subject. The topic is becoming even more relevant as, according to Saab, sales of the Silver Eagles are "on the verge of surpassing total domestic silver mine production." For more, read his article about Silver Eagle Sales Nearing Domestic Silver Production.

On the bullion sales front, the Mint did not report any new sales on Thursday. The following table shows the latest figures across all the Mint’s bullion coin products.

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