Currency
Yesterday the US Mint announced it had run out, following a surge in demand.
It was only a matter of time before the last bastion of paper money, London, also succumbed to the soaring demand for physical, and sure enough moments ago Bloomberg reported that the “Britain’s Royal Mint, established in the 13th century, sold more than three times more gold coins this month than a year earlier as prices declined.”
Sales are more than 150 percent higher than last month, according to Shane Bissett, director of bullion and commemorative coin at the Royal Mint.
“Since the dip in the price of gold we have seen increased demand for our gold bullion coins from the major coin markets, and this presently shows no sign of abating,” Bissett said by e-mail in response to questions from Bloomberg. “The Royal Mint continues to supply to its customers and is increasing production to accommodate the higher demand.”
Its not only the UK Mint, but a pervasive global “panic” to get as much gold as possible while prices are as low as they are, courtesy of the recent takedown in spot.
Standard Chartered Plc said yesterday its gold shipments to India last week exceeded the previous record by 20 percent and were double the total of the week before.
…..read more about this Surge HERE
(Ed – for the US perspective)
The Eagles Have Fled
The U.S. Mint has been cleaned out of 1/10th-ounce Gold Eagles. So far this month, 85,000 of the coins have exited the Mint’s doors. Now sales are temporarily suspended.
“While the 1-ounce gold bullion coins remain the most popular,” says a Mint statement, “demand for the 1/10th-ounce coins has remained strong too, with year-to-date demand for these coins up over 118% compared to the same period last year.”
Overall Gold Eagle sales this month now total 183,500 ounces. At this rate, April will almost surely end with the second-highest sales on record… and an all-time high is within reach.
Silver Eagle sales for April now total 3,232,000 — the highest April on record.
Supply remains tight, and the Mint continues to ration sales to its dealer network — as it has since a temporary suspension of sales in January.
One of those authorized purchasers says the wholesale premium for Silver Eagles has doubled this month, to around $4.50 each — not that it’s dented sales a bit. “There’s no cheap silver out there,” says Jim Hausman of The Gold Center in Springfield, Ill.
The Mint says it’s trying to find another supplier of blanks — so far, with no luck. “Currently,” according to Coin World, “the Mint secures finished planchets from Sunshine Mint in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Vennerbeck Stern-Leach in Lincoln, R.I.; and GSM Metals in Cranston, R.I.”
Regards,
Dave Gonigam
Treading a fine line between contrarian thinking and conspiracy theory, Dave Gonigam explores the nexus of finance, politics, and the media for Agora Financial’s 5 Minute Forecast. He joined kindred spirits at Agora Financial in 2007 after a 20-year career as an Emmy award-winning writer, producer, and manager in local TV newsrooms nationwide. [cfopenx zone=”113″]
Old guys like Buffett, Soros, Fuss, yeah – me too, have cut our teeth during perhaps a most advantageous period of time, the most attractive epoch, that an investor could experience. Since the early 1970s when the dollar was released from gold and credit began its incredible, liquefying, total return journey to the present day, an investor that took marginal risk, levered it wisely and was conveniently sheltered from periodic bouts of deleveraging or asset withdrawals could, and in some cases, was rewarded with the crown of “greatness.” Perhaps, however, it was the epoch that made the man as opposed to the man that made the epoch.
Authors Dimson, Marsh and Staunton would probably agree. In fact, the title of their book “Triumph of the Optimists” rather cagily describes an epochal 101 years of investment returns – one in which it paid to be an optimist and a risk taker as opposed to a more conservative Scrooge McDuck. Written in 2002, they perhaps correctly surmised however, that the next 101 years were unlikely to be as fortunate because of the unrealistic assumptions that many investors had priced into their markets. And all of this before QE and 0% interest rates! In any case, their point – and mine as well – is that different epochs produce different returns and fresh coronations as well.
My point is this: PIMCO’s epoch, Berkshire Hathaway’s epoch, Peter Lynch’s epoch, all occurred or have occurred within an epoch of credit expansion – a period where those that reached for carry, that sold volatility, that tilted towards yield and more credit risk, or that were sheltered either structurally or reputationally from withdrawals and delevering (Buffett) that clipped competitors at just the wrong time – succeeded. Yet all of these epochs were perhaps just that – epochs. What if an epoch changes? What if perpetual credit expansion and its fertilization of asset prices and returns are substantially altered?
.….read more of “A Man in the Mirror” HERE
If you are invested in the lofty stock markets of the United States or Japan, legendary investor Jim Rogers has a message for you …
Euphoric gains always lead to hangover pains – it’s just a matter of when.
“This is artificial, as I’ve [repeatedly] said,” Rogers told Money Morningduring an exclusive interview Sunday night. “This is the first time in recorded history where nearly all the central banks in all countries are pumping out lots of money, debasing their currencies, printing money. I’ve never seen this in history, and now we’ve got everybody – or nearly everybody – doing it.”
In a wide-ranging interview from his home in Singapore, Rogers also told us that:
- The currency-debasing policies of the world’s central banks are a “race to insanity” that will likely do maximum damage to the global economy.
- Inflation is a much-deeper-seated problem than the “official” statistics show, which means that gold, energy and agricultural commodities are must-have holdings.
- And that Russia is the most intriguing potential investment target on his radar screen right now.
But a substantial portion of this article and Roger’s talks was focused on the current bubble in stock prices, which Rogers concedes can continue for some time.
…..read this thorough article HERE
Remarkably Jim Rogers is Michaels Money Talks Guest this weekend April 27th, and he wouldn’t if he wasn’t aware of the respect Micheal Campbell endgenders
Rogers first rose to fame when In a short 10 years Rogers Quantum Fund gained an astonishing 4200% vs the S&P 500’s gain of 50% during the same time period.
So be sure to tune in to CKNW or listen on the Money Talks Website to hear what he has to tell you and Michael in this exclusive Saturday interview beginning at 8:30 am PST.
…..for the moment, read what he had to tell Money Morning recently about the “Race to Insanity”
In 10 yrs Rogers Fund gained 4200% vs the S&P 500 gaining 50%. His subsequent track record argues powerfully he is someone worth listening to. Yesterday Rogers told Money Morning he believes this is a badly needed – even healthy – price correction. And that will set the stage for a new bull market in gold – and a run to record prices that are sure to come in an era of cheap-money policies by the world’s central banks.
Amazingly Jim Rogers is Micheals Money Talks Guest this weekend April 27th, so be sure to tune in to CKNW or listen on the Money Talks Website to hear what he has to tell you and Michael Saturday!
…..for the moment, read what he had to tell Money Morning about Gold yesterday HERE
Weekly Gold Chart Below:
The crash of the price of paper gold on Monday has unleashed an unprecedented global frenzy to buy physical gold and silver. All over the planet, people are recognizing that this is a unique opportunity to be able to acquire large amounts of gold and silver at a bargain price. So precious metals dealers now find themselves being overwhelmed with orders in the United States, in Canada, in Europe and over in Asia. Will this massive run on physical gold and silver soon lead to widespread shortages of those metals? Instead of frightening people away from gold and silver,the takedown of paper gold seems to have had just the opposite effect. People just can’t seem to get enough physical gold and silver right now. Those that wish that they had gotten into gold when it was less than $1400 an ounce are able to do so now, and it is absolutely insane that silver is sitting at about $23 an ounce. If the big banks continue to play games with the price of gold, we are going to see existing supplies of physical gold and silver dry up very quickly. And once reports of physical shortages of gold and silver become widespread, it is going to absolutely rock the financial world. But this is what happens when you manipulate free markets – it often has unintended consequences far beyond anything that you ever imagined.
The following are 10 signs that the takedown of paper gold has unleashed an unprecedented global run on physical gold and silver…
#1 According to Zero Hedge, the U.S. Mint set a new all-time record for the number of gold ounces sold on Wednesday…
(Ed Note: Demand for gold coins has surged following the record price plunge in gold last week. Demand is so high that the U.S. Mint Runs Out of Smallest American Eagle Gold Coin)
……read 2 thru 10 HERE
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