In 2023, the performance of precious metals varied, with gold showing a significant increase, silver making a very modest gain, platinum experiencing a solid decline, and palladium seeing a substantial decrease in value.
On Friday, gold for February delivery fell by $11.70, or 0.6%, to settle at $2,071.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
“The ship is moving towards calmer waters, so to speak – a lower rate environment, which means a lower dollar, and so gold should do better,” Reuters quoted Marex analyst Edward Meir.
Gold prices inched 0.1% higher this week, registering their third consecutive week of increases, following gains of 1.6% last week and 1.1% in the week ending Dec. 15. For 2023, gold prices jumped by 13.5%. On Wednesday, the yellow metal logged a record settlement at $2,093.10 an ounce.
Declining for the fifth time in six sessions, silver for March delivery gave back 28.6 cents, or 1.2%, to close at $24.086 an ounce. Silver prices dropped 2% this week, following gains of 1.7% last week and 3.8% in the week ending Dec. 15. For the year, silver edged up nearly 5 cents, or 0.2%.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
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April platinum shed $14, or 1.4%, to close at $1,009.20 an ounce, reducing its weekly gain to 2.8%.
- Palladium for March delivery lost $30.90, or 2.7%, to finish at $1,109.30 an ounce, resulting in a weekly drop of 9.4%.
When assessing their performance in 2023, platinum fell by 6.8% and palladium sank by 38.3%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Friday, the U.S. Mint did not publish any changes in bullion sales. On Thursday, the bureau reported new bullion sales, marking only the second occurrence this month. The data indicated increases in American Eagle gold and silver coin sales, and it included a negative adjustment for American Buffalo gold coins.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This Week | October | November | December | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 2,500 | 97,000 | 40,000 | 15,000 | 924,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 102,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 18,000 | 16,000 | 0 | 198,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 30,000 | 55,000 | 15,000 | 675,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | -7,000 | 36,500 | 14,000 | 5,500 | 387,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 157,000 | 3,938,000 | 2,378,000 | 525,000 | 24,750,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
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