Gold and Silver Bullion Coin Sales Rebound Strongly In May

According to the latest report from the U.S. Mint, sales of both gold and silver bullion coins rebounded strongly during May.

Sales of the American Gold Eagle bullion coins during April had declined to only 20,000 ounces, the lowest monthly sales since June 2008 when 15,500 ounces were sold.  During May, the U.S. Mint sold 50,000 ounces of gold bullion coins, up 150% from April sales of 20,000 ounces.

The monthly sales figures for bullion coins can vary dramatically for a number of reasons, but support for the increase in demand during May may be due to the recent pullback in gold prices.  During May, the closing London PM Fix Price for gold declined by 6.3% from $1,664 to $1,558 per ounce.  Through the end of May, gold has declined by $40 from $1,598 at the beginning of 2012.  Gold reached a 2012 high of $1,781 on February 28th.

Sales of the American Eagle gold bullion coins hit a record high during the financial turmoil of 2009 as investors eagerly purchased 1,435,000 ounces of gold.  Ironically, sales of gold declined during the next two years despite the fact that the financial system has become more unstable as sovereign governments worldwide continue to borrow and print fiat money on an unprecedented scale in an effort to prop up a world economy burdened by unsustainable debt levels and nonexistent economic growth.  The ongoing simultaneous collapse of the banking systems and economies of the Eurozone is the most obvious trigger for the next phase of the financial crisis.  As confidence in paper money evaporates, expect gold to soar as investors stampede into the only currency that governments cannot debase.

Gold Bullion U.S. Mint Sales By YearNote: 2012 totals through May 31, 2012

Sales by the U.S. Mint of the American Silver Eagle bullion coins for May almost doubled from the previous month.  Total sales of  silver bullion coins for May totaled 2,750,000 ounces, up 81% from sales of 1,520,000 ounces in April.  Year to date sales of the American Silver Eagle bullion coins through May 31st came in at 14,409,000, down by 23.8% from the first five months of 2011.  Sales of the silver bullion coins reached all an all time high during 2011.   Since reaching a multi decades high of $48.70 during April of 2011, silver has since corrected, closing out the month of May 2012 at $28.10.

Total annual U.S. Mint sales of the American Silver Eagle bullion coins since 2000 are shown below.  Sales totals for 2012 are through May 31.

In addition to gold and silver bullion coins, the U.S. Mint also sells numismatic versions (uncirculated and proof) of gold and silver American Eagle coins which can be purchased by the public directly from the U.S. Mint.  Gold and silver bullion coins are sold by the U.S. Mint only to authorized purchasers who in turn resell them to the general public and secondary retailers.

American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins

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John Paulson Remains Bullish On Gold With $4,000 Target

John Paulson, hedge fund titan, seemed invincible in the opening days of 2011.  Based on a huge bearish position in mortgage bonds, Paulson's hedge funds earned an astonishing $15 billion during 2007.

Paulson's winning streak continued for three years and by the end of 2010, Paulson's success had attracted huge amounts of new investor money.   By the end of 2010, the amount of money under management in Paulson's funds had swelled to  over $32 billion.  During 2010 Paulson personally made $5 billion and had become an investment legend.

No one, least of all John Paulson, could have imagined the disaster that was ready to unfold during 2011.  Paulson's two largest funds got crushed during 2011 with the Paulson Advantage fund down 36% and the Paulson Advantage Plus fund down a staggering 52%.  Bad bets involving financial stocks and a large investment in Sino-Forest, a Chinese timber company, proved disastrous during 2011.

Although Paulson is well known for his long term bullish bets on gold this did not save him during 2011.  Despite a 10% increase in the price of gold during 2011, Paulson's positions in gold stocks contributed to his losses  as gold shares dramatically underperformed gold bullion.

In a wide ranging interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Paulson explained why 2011 turned out to be the year of pain for both himself and fund investors.

The firm had made four major mistakes, according to Paulson, “overweighting long event equity,” underestimating Europe’s debt crisis, overestimating the U.S. economy, and some plain-old terrible stock picking. “Our performance in 2011 was clearly unacceptable,” he wrote. “However, we believe 2011 will be an aberration in our long-term performance.”

Despite the huge losses of 2011, Bloomberg notes that Paulson still registered gains of $22.6 billion for investors over the lifetime of his funds, the third best in the hedge fund industry.

Paulson told Bloomberg that he considers 2011 an "aberration" and expects his long term strategies, including his large bet on the gold market to rack up large gains going forward.  During an interview in October 2010 at the University Club in New York, Paulson predicted that the price of gold would hit $4,000 per ounce.

Paulson explained his view on gold during the Bloomberg Businessweek interview as follows:

“We view gold as a currency, not a commodity,” Paulson says. “Its importance as a currency will continue to increase as the major central banks around the world continue to print money.” He adds that as the market keeps shuddering, demand for gold will stay high, and soon enough all of his depressed gold holdings should shoot up. He also thinks that anyone in Greece, Italy, and France should pull all their money out of the banking system and purchase gold bars before the Continent collapses.

Although Paulson remains committed to gold long term, he did substantially reduce his holdings in the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) during 2011.  At March 31, 2011, Paulson's funds held 31.5 million shares of GLD valued at $4.4 billion but by the end of 2011, the position had declined to 17.3 million shares valued at $2.85 billion.   In Paulson's latest Form 13-F filing with the SEC at March 31, 2012, Paulson's position in the GLD remained unchanged from 2011 year end holdings.

GLD - courtesy yahoo finance

In hindsight, Paulson should have gone "all in" on gold during 2011 as he did with his bearish mortgage bets in 2007.  Gold closed at $1388.50 on the first day of trading in 2011 and closed the year at $1,531.  Had Paulson been 100% in gold bullion or the GLD during 2011 his portfolios would have increased in value by about 10.3%.

2011 Gold - courtesy kitco.com

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2012 SF Proof Silver Eagle Two-Coin Set Sales Conclude

Today, July 5, 2012 at 5 PM ET, the United States Mint will stop selling its collectible 2012 San Francisco Proof Silver Eagle Two-Coin Set.

U.S. Mint image advertising the 2012 SF Proof Silver Eagle Two-Coin Set on its last day of availability

In a departure from past product offerings, the U.S. Mint did not limit sales of the sets by a predetermined mintage or offer them for an extended time period. Instead, demand drives how many are produced but only within a four-week window — from their debut on June 7, 2012 through to today.

Priced at $149.95, sales are robust with the latest tally at 245,131 as of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, July 4. For that price, buyers get two coins:

a typical proof Silver Eagle with satin design elements and a mirror-like background,a more unique reverse proof Silver Eagle with mirror-like design elements and a satin background

Both of these American Eagles are manufactured at the San Francisco Mint and carry a corresponding ‘S’ mint mark. A proof Silver Eagle had not been struck at San Francisco since the early 1990's.

Demand Rises

Demand for the two-coin sets has been most impressive since the weekend of June 23. Daily set sales have averaged nearly 10,000 coins since then, with the last three published results since Monday showing respective increases of 25,471; 16,292; and 27,780. The U.S. Mint provided daily updates via its sales odometer on the set’s product page.

It seems certain that the 250,000 mark will be breached, which will put this set’s sales above those of the 20th Anniversary Sets issued in 2006. Sales are nearly 2.5X higher than last year’s 25th Anniversary Sets.

Order from U.S. Mint

There are no ordering limits in place for the 2012 San Francisco Proof Silver Eagle Two-Coin Set. Collectors may buy as many as they want. The sets may be ordered online at http://www.usmint.gov.

As of this writing, the U.S. Mint has indicated the new orders will be available for shipping on October 31, 2012. Products will often ship earlier than advertised.

Related Coin Collecting News:

2012 Silver Proof Set in Sales Spotlight2012 Proof Set Leads US Mint Sales As Bicentennial Silver Dollar Set Debuts2012-S Proof Silver Eagle Two-Coin Set – Release, Price, Order Limits2012 San Francisco Proof Silver Eagle Two-Coin SetDebut Sales for 2012 Quarters Silver Proof Set and Vicksburg Coin Products

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FDIC Assigns Gold A “Zero Risk Rating” When Calculating Bank Capital

Although Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke refuses to acknowledge that gold is money, another major regulatory agency views the value of gold money as a risk free asset for calculation of Tier 1 regulatory capital by banks.   Meanwhile, as Ben Bernanke dismisses the value of gold, other central  banks around the world continue to increase gold reserves.  As the world financial system spirals closer to a complete breakdown, it is the holders of paper currencies that are squarely placed at the highest point of the risk spectrum.

TDV Golden Trader examines the current state of the financial system, the role of gold in wealth preservation and suggestions for protecting your gold from government confiscation.

Despite what the Main Stream Media (MSM) or “Financial Pundits” tell you, the gold bull market is far from over.  In fact, it is just starting, in our opinion.  While the misdirected financial world tell you that gold is in a bubble and it has burst, the central bankers and government organizations all know it is far from over.  In fact, gold is moving towards the banking system and not away from it.  We all know that many central banks are now net buyers of gold and their holdings are increasing as their need to diversify away from risky assets and foreign bonds only grows.

Central banks around the world are continuing to stock up on gold. We can now add Kazakhstan’s central bank to the grow list of bankers wanting to hold gold as a part of their currency reserve.  The Kazakh central bank intends to have 20% of reserves in gold, this is up from the current 14-15% currently held.  They plan to purchase 20 tonnes of gold this year, mostly from local producers.  They also mentioned a few weeks ago that they would cut their Euro holding to 25 % from 30%.  We can also add Kazakhstan to the growing number of central bankers which are building up gold holdings including China, Russia, Mexico, Colombia and South Korea.

The price of gold is now hitting all time highs in India, one of the biggest buyers of gold around the world.  Prices have reached an all-time high of $544.74 US (Rs 30420) per 10 grams.  With a slowing economy and low demand for the Indian rupee, it has been losing value lately and still remains weak.   However, gold demand is still robust even at these elevated prices as investors in India still consider gold a safe haven as it counters the effects of inflation and exchange rate fluctuations.

Over the past five years, gold has provided Indian investors with a 27.19% annualized return versus a pathetic 2.67% in the equity market.  This trend and move to gold has only grown in the last year.  Gold assets under management by funds have increased almost 100% $1.83 billion by April 2012, last year the value was $981 million.  In 2011, the gold ETFs in India saw a net inflow of $725 million.  For thousands of years the Indian culture has had an affinity for gold, and that will never change, and neither will their demand for physical at elevated prices.  Why?  Indians understand that gold is money and a true form of saving.  It’s the only way to protect assets and wealth from government theft, something the West is still learning.

Even the good ol' USSA is starting to recognize gold as a tier one asset class. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) just issued a notice regarding a new policy proposal on how banks should revise the measurement of risk-weighted assets by implementing changes made by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) to international regulatory capital standards and by implementing aspects of the Dodd-Frank Act.  Under the proposal the following assets would carry a zero percent risk weighting, notice how gold bullion is listed as the second item:

A. Zero Percent Risk-Weighted Items

The following exposures would receive a zero percent risk weight under the proposal:

Cash;Gold bullionClaims on certain supranational entities (such as the International Monetary Fund) and certain multilateral development banking organizationsClaims on and exposures unconditionally guaranteed by sovereign entities that meet certain criteria (as discussed below).

So regardless of what the MSM says, we continue to see more central bankers buying and hoarding gold.  New proposals by government banking agencies are being introduced into the system and gold is included as a tier one asset to hold with ZERO RISK.  All the signs are in place and what the MSM hasn’t been told yet is that gold is coming back into the banking system.

We are in a world where currency wars are being fought daily, and as the system continues to collapse under its own weight of paper printing, gold will be the go to asset and possibly the last man standing.  Don’t be fooled by what the MSM says, they rarely know what they are talking about and are paid to misdirect the puppets. Gold is here to stay.

European Capital Controls and a Flight to Safety

The Greek Elections are over and the pro-bailout New Democracy party won with approximately 29.7% of the vote.  By winning the popular vote, they were given a 50-seat bonus.  This combined with the support of the Pasok Socialist (who took 12.3% of the vote), will have 162 seats in the 300 seat parliament.  Combined, they have the ability to pass government policy with a majority vote, so they can now rig policy for keeping with the Euro.

The Euro experiment may have been saved from breaking up for now, but the bailouts will continue for the foreseeable future.  Since the socialists are realizing that austerity is not working, a new movement and calls for a policy of growth are afoot.  We can expect lots more money printing coming out of Europe now and in the foreseeable future.   While in a normal world that would hurt the Euro, the markets relief that the Euro will not collapse immediately should stop the downward pressure on the Euro. In fact, we could see a slight bounce off the recent lows from this news, but I suspect that will be short lived.  None of the problems have been addressed and printing money to fund the bailout will still be the cure central bankers will prescribe to the Euro financial system mess.

Capital controls are already in place within Euroland and this trend is growing quickly as the hot days of summer go on.  Recently, major Italian banks have given notice that customer's accounts would be frozen for one month because of financial difficulties. This caught many bank customers off guard and completely unaware that they would not have access to their funds.  This should not be startling news for TDV subscribers as we have been warning for months that capital controls are coming and Europe is fast out of the gates in implementation.  For weeks, Europe has been planning bank withdrawal restriction to deal with Greece exit, the only one that hasn’t told you about it is the MSM.

Recently, a businessman was stopped at the Swiss border with £1.6m worth of gold in his car only to have it confiscated by the authorities and was subsequently charged with smuggling.  Italians know very well that the trend of confiscation by the “Mafia” government has only grown recently.  They have been exporting gold to Switzerland and this trend has grown 35% year over year in February 2012.  About 120 tonnes of gold have left Italian boarder in 2011, that is up 65% from 2010.  The Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has been promising a crackdown on tax evasion as he continues to fight the trend of people wanting to avoid paying extortion fees (taxes).  It was estimated that more than £96 billion [€119.6bn] in taxes were dodged in Italy during 2009.

As much as we like gold as an investment and store of wealth, you must take the necessary precaution of protecting your gold from confiscation.  As desperate European governments continue to steal your wealth via inflation and outright theft, you must create a plan of protecting your gold.  Keeping it close at hand where only you have access to it is the first step.

Secondly, you should consider diversifying your precious metals holding internationally, which seems to be more difficult as capital controls in Euroland become stricter.  At TDV, we saw this trend coming a long time ago and have been warning subscribers to plan ahead.  Earlier this year, we published a 100 page report on how to diversify and internationalize your precious metals holding called Getting Your Gold Out Of Dodge (GYGOOD).  If you live in Europe and are interested in protecting your precious metals, this report is something you should consider getting right away; your time to act may be limited by your own government.

Gold Update

The price of gold is still consolidating.   The price needs to stay above support at the 50 dma of $1615.  If this support holds, then it could move toward resistance at $1675 and the 200 dma.  A break below $1610 could trigger selling and the price could still see one more wave of selling to test support at $1530 or slightly lower again.   If we do get one more wave of selling, I suggest you consider backing up the truck as this could be that last time we see prices this low, possibly forever.

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