U.S. Mint Gold American Eagle Coin Sales Quicken This Month
The U.S. Mint sold 62,000 ounces of American Eagle gold coins in the first week of May, heading for the highest monthly amount since March 1999.
This month’s sales are already 57 percent of the total in April, according to the mint’s website. May sales would be about 240,250 ounces if the current pace continues. The mint sold 231,500 ounces of the coins in December 2009 and 269,000 ounces in March 1999, its website showed.
Concern about faster inflation, Europe’s debt crisis, a weakening dollar and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa helped gold climb to a record $1,577.57 an ounce on May 2. European Union officials agreed in an unannounced meeting on May 6 to reconsider the terms of the 110 billion-euro ($158 billion) lifeline Greece received last year.
“It could perhaps be explained by restocking, but it’s also likely related to the return of European sovereign concerns to the headlines,” Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS AG in London, said today in a report to clients. “Higher prices prompt greater coin demand, particularly if the reason for higher prices is fear.”
Gold coin buying accelerated even as prices dropped 4.4 percent last week, the most in almost a year. Silver’s slump into a so-called bear market last week led commodities lower on concern that demand will weaken and as Comex exchange owner CME Group Inc. raised margin requirements for silver. Gold traded at $1,508.43 an ounce by 10:56 a.m. in London today. Immediate delivery silver, which reached a record $49.79 on April 25, was at $37.14.
The mint sold 701,000 ounces of American Eagle silver coins so far this month, the data show. That compares with 2.82 million ounces for the whole of April.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
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