U.S. Mint’s American Eagle Gold-Coin Sales Double in May

The U.S. Mint’s sales of American Eagle gold coins in May more than doubled from April as prices of the precious metal declined.

Sales were 53,000 ounces, compared with 20,000 ounces in April and 62,500 ounces in March, according to the Mint’s website. Sales of American eagle silver coins rose 89 percent in May to 2.88 million ounces from April.

In May, the benchmark gold price fell for the fourth straight month, the longest slump since 2000, as the dollar rallied on the escalating debt crisis in Europe. Silver dropped for three consecutive months.

“People are slowly coming back to gold and silver as prices have fallen,” Scott Carter, the chief executive officer at Los Angeles-based Lear Capital, said in a telephone interview. “The fear trade is bringing some investors to gold.”

Gold futures for August delivery surged 3.2 percent to $1,614.70 an ounce at 12:31 p.m. on the Comex in New York, heading for the biggest gain for a most-active contract since Sept. 27.

To contact the reporter on this story: Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at stroth@bloomberg.net