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U.S. Mint Rations Bullion Coins – Why Aren't Prices Rising, Too?

This week, Your News to Know rounds up the latest top stories involving gold and the overall economy. Stories include: The disconnect between gold and silver bullion demand and price, we could be months away from $50 silver, and trove of antique Roman silver coins unearthed in Turkey.

Why bullion prices don’t seem to be in line with demand

Despite record demand for gold and silver bullion coins month after month, the prices of both metals continue to linger within limited ranges. Gold even pulled back to just above $1,800 during Friday’s trading session. So what’s going on? Why isn’t the clearly-demonstrated demand driving prices higher?

U.S. Mint director Ed Moy, whose tenure stretched from 2006 to 2011, recognizes today’s situation and draws many parallels to the start of 2008:

The last time demand was this high was during the [2008-2009] financial crisis. People were panicking and buying into gold, and prices were shooting up. Then the government started injecting both fiscal and monetary stimulus, and you saw gold correct down maybe 20-30%. And then, over the next three years, gold began to climb until it set a new record of $1,925 in 2011. Afterward, gold didn’t decline until it became clear that the economic recovery was going to be slow, which eliminated the uncertainty. The Fed also had the time to mop up all the excess liquidity before it caused inflation.

The former director explained that, besides overloaded mints and supply chain disruptions, there are several other factors that could play an interesting role in shaping up gold’s price over the coming months and years. Moy believes that perhaps the biggest reason for the disconnection between price and demand lies in Wall Street’s shorting of the metals.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

“Everyone Is Afraid Ahead Of The Open” – Reddit-Raiders Spark Nationwide Physical Silver Shortage

January 31, 2021

“Everyone Is Afraid Ahead Of The Open” – Reddit-Raiders Spark Nationwide Physical Silver Shortage

Update (1100ET): For some background on just how unprecedented this weekend’s action in silver markets is, Tyler Wall, the CEO of SD Bullion writes the following (emphasis ours):

In the 24 hours proceeding Friday market close, SD Bullion sold nearly 10x the number of silver ounces that we normally would sell in an entire weekend leading to Sunday market open.

In a normal market, we normally can find at least one supplier/source willing to sell some ounces over the weekend if we exceed our long position (the number of ounces we predict we will sell over the weekend).

However, everyone we talk to is afraid of a gap up at Sunday night market open.

This is about ready to get really interesting as there was very little inventory left from suppliers/mints going into Friday close.

Our direct AP supplier informed us after close on Friday that the “US Mint will be on allocation for the remainder of Type 1” (Current Silver Eagle Design).

Our sales for the month of January exceeded any one month last year during the heart of the pandemic. It was an all-time record month in our company history.

And, perhaps most importantly, as QTR tweets so succinctly, “this is a red pill moment for many, and it’s beautiful.”

* * *

Update (1030ET): It would appear the run on silver has begun. With the market closed, traders have rushed to secure some exposure to silver ahead of what WSB suggests could be “the world’s biggest short squeeze” and that has left bullion dealers

As we noted below, the premium for physical silver had soared late Friday and into Saturday (after the massive flows into SLV), but as Sunday rolled around, bullion dealers are now facing massive shortages of physical coins.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

It’s Time To Care Again About Gold & Silver

June 30, 2018

DnD-Production.com/Shutterstock

It’s Time To Care Again About Gold & Silver

Fundamentals and TA are signaling extreme undervaluation

It’s been a while since I’ve covered the precious metals in an article. They’ve been range-bound for much of the past year, with few notable sector developments to report.

But I feel compelled to write about them today for two reasons:

The probability of an upwards re-pricing of the precious metals is rising, and
Both gold & silver are quite over-sold right now, technically-speaking.

With technical and fundamental indicators flashing green simultaneously like this, now is an advantageous time to consider increasing your PM exposure (I did so myself yesterday).

The Human Factor

Before I go into further detail on the current conditions of the PM market, here’s a recent personal experience that underscores how few people have any real familiarity with gold & silver as an asset class, let alone own any (beyond, perhaps, a bit of jewelry).

A good friend moved and needed help transporting some bullion from his old town to his new one. Most of it was silver, several thousand ounces worth.

That much silver is pretty friggin’ heavy.

So we huffed and strained, hauling that load out of one bank vault, into his car, and from there into the vault at his new bank. While we did our best to be as discrete as possible, our sweaty, grunting 2-man production was hard for the bank staff to ignore.

Managers at both banks figured out what was going on, as it was pretty obvious. And both separately asked us out of genuine curiosity, “Is that real silver?”.

My friend briefly handed over a 100-oz bar so they could see for themselves, sparking conversations about the merits of owning physical bullion.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Good as gold: Turkey uses bullion to stabilise its economy

June 3, 2018

Good as gold: Turkey uses bullion to stabilise its economy

Commercial banks are putting gold into Turkey’s central bank to help deal with rapid inflation

Turkey’s central bank has accumulated an additional 400 metric tonnes of gold since 2011 (Reuters)

Turkey’s economy has been in a tailspin with an inflationary currency, but the country is using something rare to help stabilise itself: gold.

In late 2011, Turkey started to allow commercial banks to use gold instead of the Turkish lira for their required deposits at the central bank. These deposits are known as reserve requirements and help ensure that the banks are capitalised.

Over the past six-or-so years, Turkey’s central bank has accumulated an additional 400 metric tonnes of gold. That’s a lot of yellow bricks – more than what Britain has – and the sizeable stash has the possibility to take the edge off the crisis.

To put the Turkish gold haul in perspective, there are 10 million ounces of gold – roughly 311 tonnes – at the Bank of England, according to the New York-based financial consulting firm CPM Group.

The burgeoning balance of bullion comes as the result of a change in banking rules made earlier this decade.

I thought the Turkish thing was pure genius

– Jeff Christian, CPM Group

“I thought the Turkish thing was pure genius,” says Jeff Christian, founder of CPM Group. “It was using gold in the way that you should use it.”

In the simplest terms, the tweak to the rules allows gold to be used as a financial asset by the banks. In addition, the new regulation helped flush out a lot of gold that was previously held privately.

“This change allowed the government to get hold of the under-the-mattress gold to help stabilise the banks and the underlying economy,” says Ivo Pezzuto, professor of global economics, entrepreneurship, and disruptive innovation at the International School of Management, Paris, France.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Adam Trexler: A New Way to Hold Gold (2016 Update)

April 11, 2016

Adam Trexler: A New Way to Hold Gold (2016 Update)

Right alongside the bills in your wallet

What if you could carry and exchange gold in the exact same manner as you do with the dollar bills in your wallet?

Two years ago, we introduced the precious metals community to a company called Valaurum, which has developed a technology that’s making this possible.

From that write-up:

Democratizing Gold

In short, a fractional gram’s worth of gold is affixed to layers of polyester, creating a note – called an “Aurum” – similar in dimension and thickness to a U.S. dollar bill. This gold (usually 1/10th or 1/20th of a gram) is commercially recoverable. So an Aurum offers similar potential as a coin or bar, in terms of providing a vehicle for storing and exchanging known, dependable increments of precious metals – just in much smaller (and more affordable) amounts than commercially available to date.

The big idea here? In a world where a 1oz coin of gold costs over $1,200, an Aurum will let you hold a few dollars’ worth of gold in a single note. If you’ve got pocket change, you can be a precious metals owner.

And you don’t have to change your behavior. You can store and transport an Aurum in your billfold along with your dollars.

Understanding the Aurum

As the saying goes, a picture’s worth a thousand words. Here’s a picture of an Aurum designed for Peak Prosperity that the Valaurum team produced for us:

You’ll see that with even just 1/20th of a gram of gold involved, it’s enough to make the Aurum appear to be “made of” gold. The characteristic luster, color, and shine of the 24-karat gold used is immediately apparent.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold

April 4, 2016

Jim Rickards: The New Case For Gold

A powerful set of arguments for owning the yellow metal

Monetary expert Jim Rickards returns this week to share the insights from his latest work The New Case For Gold, a detailed and highly-researched study of the fundamentals likely to drive the price of gold bullion in the years to come.

Rickards is quite confident that the price is going higher — much higher in fact — as the current world fiat currency regimes falter, to be replaced by ones backed (at least in part) by bullion.

On the way to that outcome, expect the price to be subjugated to the interests and aims of the largest players on the geopolitical chessboard:

Is there gold price manipulation going on? Absolutely; there’s no question about it. That’s not just an opinion.

I spoke to a PhD statistician who works for one of the biggest hedge funds in the world. I can’t mention the name but it’s a household name, you would know the fund. This guy is a PhD statistician. He looked at COMEX opening prices and COMEX closing prices for a 10-year period and he was dumbfounded. He said…This is the most blatant case of manipulation I’ve ever seen. He said if you went into the aftermarket, bought after the close and sold before the opening every day, you would make risk-free profits. He said statistically that’s impossible unless there’s manipulation going on.

I spoke to Professor Rosa Abrantes-Metz at the New York University Stern School of Business. She is the leading expert on globe price manipulation. She actually testifies in some of these gold manipulation cases that are going on. She wrote a report reaching the same conclusions. It’s not just an opinion, it’s not just a deep, dark conspiracy theory. Here’s a PhD statistician and a prominent market expert lawyer, expert witness in litigation qualified by the courts, who independently reached the same conclusion.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Gold price over $1,200 has bullion buyers sure rally will continue

February 19, 2016

Gold price over $1,200 has bullion buyers sure rally will continue

Price of bullion is rising fast, especially when converted into Canadian currency

Gold has outperformed almost every single other asset class as an investment this year. Many backers of the precious metal say the rally is just getting started.

Gold has outperformed almost every single other asset class as an investment this year. Many backers of the precious metal say the rally is just getting started. (Frantzesco Kangaris/Bloomberg)

The price of an ounce of gold bullion has risen from a little over $1,000 US an ounce in late December to above $1,200 US Thursday, through a period when every single major stock index has fallen.

That’s part of a widespread flight to safety that has seen investors dump anything perceived as risky — stocks, oil and currencies like the Canadian dollar — and put their money into investments that are perceived to be safer.

That’s leading them right to gold, which is gaining ground after a multi-year slide.

“Investors are suddenly waking up to the risks in the market, pretty much like what happened in 2008,” said Robert Cohen, a portfolio manager at Scotiabank’s Dynamic Funds.

Mini-rally underway

“This time it’s more of a slower motion train wreck out there, so people are slowly digesting that information and systematically moving to safe havens like gold.”

Part of gold`s rally is due to a relative dearth of better options. That’s because central banks have cut interest rates so low that non-risky assets now can`t outperform inflation.

Bloomberg recently reported that almost a third of all the sovereign debt held by developed economies is negative yielding. That`s more than $7 trillion worth of assets guaranteed to lose money if held to maturity. Against a backdrop like that, it’s not hard to see gold’s appeal.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Perth Mint and U.S. Mint Cannot Meet Demand as Gold Bullion Demand Surges

August 1, 2015

Perth Mint and U.S. Mint Cannot Meet Demand as Gold Bullion Demand Surges

– Perth Mint sees surge in demand and cannot keep up with demand
– “Our biggest restriction is the amount of unrefined gold we’re getting in from producers”
– Very high demand for Perth Mint coins, bars coming from Asia, U.S. and Europe
– U.S. Mint sees highest sales of gold coins in over 2 years
– U.S. Mint restrictions on silver coins due to very high demand
– Gold sentiment has moved from despondency to depression (see chart)
– Current negative sentiment despite strong demand is good contrarian indicator

Perth Mint Gold Bar (1 kilo)

Depressed prices have led to the usual market response, a surge in physical demand for coins and bars globally.

This is confirmed in conversations we have had with our refiner and mint partners in recent days. There are growing shortages of supply of small coins and bars. This is resulting in delays in receiving bullion and indeed to rising premiums.

Asian gold demand picked up this week keeping premiums robust and slightly higher in the world’s top gold buying regions.

Treasurer for the Perth Mint, Nigel Moffatt has said that the mint has seen a surge in demand for physical gold since the price dropped below $1,100 per ounce.

In an interview on Bloomberg’s “First Up” show he said “Our biggest restriction is the amount of unrefined gold we’re getting in from producers”, adding, “everything we get in is going straight out the door as soon as we refine it.”

Moffatt says that the Perth Mint is seeing strong demand for kilo bars which go to Asia – particularly India, China and now Thailand – adding that traditional buyers in Asia tend to “stock up” on gold when the price falls.

There is also a huge demand for coins from individual buyers in the U.S. and Europe:

Gold “is going straight out the door as soon as we can find it.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Supply and Demand in the Gold and Silver Futures Markets

July 28, 2015

Supply and Demand in the Gold and Silver Futures Markets

This article establishes that the price of gold and silver in the futures markets in which cash is the predominant means of settlement is inconsistent with the conditions of supply and demand in the actual physical or current market where physical bullion is bought and sold as opposed to transactions in uncovered paper claims to bullion in the futures markets. The supply of bullion in the futures markets is increased by printing uncovered contracts representing claims to gold. This artificial, indeed fraudulent, increase in the supply of paper bullion contracts drives down the price in the futures market despite high demand for bullion in the physical market and constrained supply. We will demonstrate with economic analysis and empirical evidence that the bear market in bullion is an artificial creation.

The law of supply and demand is the basis of economics. Yet the price of gold and silver in the Comex futures market, where paper contracts representing 100 troy ounces of gold or 5,000 ounces of silver are traded, is inconsistent with the actual supply and demand conditions in the physical market for bullion. For four years the price of bullion has been falling in the futures market despite rising demand for possession of the physical metal and supply constraints.

We begin with a review of basics. The vertical axis measures price. The horizontal axis measures quantity. Demand curves slope down to the right, the quantity demanded increasing as price falls. Supply curves slope upward to the right, the quantity supplied rising with price. The intersection of supply with demand determines price. (Graph 1)

Supply and Demand Graph 1

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Olivier Garrett: Buying Gold & Silver

July 13, 2015

Olivier Garrett: Buying Gold & Silver

Precious metals and the Hard Assets Alliance

With financial markets becoming increasingly volatile (the Shanghai Composite’s loss of over $2 trillion in the past month, for example), along with growing global economic instability and currency risks (Greece contagion, anyone?), we think it time to reiterate more loudly our core belief that everyone should own some precious metals.

As detailed out in our report The Screaming Fundamentals For Owning Gold & Silver, the primary reasons are:

To protect purchasing power against monetary recklessness (e.g. central bank money printing)
As insulation against fiscal foolishness (e.g., chronic deficit spending by governments)
As insurance against the possibility of a major calamity in the banking/financial system
For the embedded ‘option value’ that will pay out handsomely if gold is re-monetized

And while there are many ways to purchase precious metals, we continue to be impressed by the full-service set of solutions offered by the Hard Assets Alliance. Peak Prosperity joined the HAA as a founding member back in 2012, and since then, we’ve appreciated how well they’ve executed on their mission and continued to launch features targeted at what their customers value most.

In this week’s podcast, Chris sits down with Olivier Garrett, the CEO of the Hard Assets Alliance to discuss the current state of the precious metals market, why the reasons for owning bullion make more sense than ever today, and what the HAA, specifically, is doing to make it as affordable, easy and secure as possible for people everywhere to own gold and silver.

The podcast gets into much more detail, but the main advantages of the Hard Assets Alliance is that it makes the same advantages enjoyed by institutions available to the retail bullion investor:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Are Big Banks Using Derivatives To Suppress Bullion Prices?

July 9, 2015

Are Big Banks Using Derivatives To Suppress Bullion Prices?

We have explained on a number of occasions how the Federal Reserves’ agents, the bullion banks (principally JPMorganChase, HSBC, and Scotia) sell uncovered shorts (“naked shorts”) on the Comex (gold futures market) in order to drive down an otherwise rising price of gold. By dumping so many uncovered short contracts into the futures market, an artificial increase in “paper gold” is created, and this increase in supply drives down the price.

This manipulation works because the hedge funds, the main purchasers of the short contracts, do not intend to take delivery of the gold represented by the contracts, settling instead in cash. This means that the banks who sold the uncovered contracts are never at risk from their inability to cover contracts in gold. At any given time, the amount of gold represented by the paper gold contracts (“open interest’) can exceed the actual amount of physical gold available for delivery, a situation that does not occur in other futures markets.

In other words, the gold and silver futures markets are not a place where people buy and sell gold and silver. These markets are places where people speculate on price direction and where hedge funds use gold futures to hedge other bets according to the various mathematical formulas that they use. The fact that bullion prices are determined in this paper, speculative market, and not in real physical markets where people sell and acquire physical bullion, is the reason the bullion banks can drive down the price of gold and silver even though the demand for the physical metal is rising.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Second Thoughts On US Official Gold Reserves Audits

February 14, 2015

Second Thoughts On US Official Gold Reserves Audits

What is not often covered in the media or blogosphere are the audits of the US official gold reserves stored at the US Mint, which is the custodian for 95 % (7716 tonnes) of the stash – nowadays also referred to as custodial deep storage, and at the Federal Reserve Bank Of New York that safeguards the remaining 5 % (418 tonnes). The lawful owner of the US official gold reserves is the US Treasury. Part one covered the most recent records I could find published by the US government, in this post we’ll examine more historical records and approach this matter from a more critical angle. Because of the amount of information I found this post is split in multiple parts.

What Is A Gold Audit?

From Wikipedia:

Auditing is defined as a systematic and independent examination of data, statements, records, operations and performances (financial or otherwise) of an enterprise for a stated purpose. In any auditing the auditor perceives and recognizes the propositions before him for examination, collects evidence, evaluates the same and on this basis formulates his judgment, which is communicated through his audit report.

Due to constraints, an audit seeks to provide only reasonable assurance that the statements are free from material error. Hence, statistical sampling is often adopted in audits.

To be sure, I’ve asked several bullion dealers about how their audits are being conducted. They all agreed an audit involves three parties: the owner of the gold, the custodian and an external (independent) auditor. The external auditor examines the gold, compares its findings with the statements of the custodian and then reports on the accuracy of the statements of the custodian to the owner of the gold. An example of an audit report by such an external auditor can be found here.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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