Demand for American Gold Eagles exploded in May according to the latest data from the US Mint.
The mint sold 147,000 ounces of American Gold Eagles in varying denominations totaling 200,500 coins. That was a 67% increase from March.
So far this year, the US Mint has sold 661,500 ounces of American Eagles. For the year, gold bullion demand is up a staggering 617%. When you factor out COVID-19-related sales disruptions, bullion sales are up 400% over the 5-year average between 2015 and 2019.
A market strategist told Kitco News that the surge in demand for physical metal reflects growing investor anxiety bubbling under the surface.
Bullion sales better reflect the anxiety investors are feeling right now. When you hear economists talk about a recession, it starts to make sense why bullion sales are so strong. Gold will always be a long-term store of value.”
Peter Schiff has been saying the recession is likely already here.
I don’t think it’s going to be a mild recession. I think this recession is going to be worse than the Great Recession that started following the 2008 financial crisis.”
The mainstream doesn’t seem to have picked up on this yes, but the demand for physical gold may indicate at least some people are beginning to worry.
Institutional investors focus more on the futures market. As Peter noted in a recent video on gold’s recent performance, the mainstream still thinks the Fed is going to successfully fight inflation by raising interest rates and believes the central bank has the tools to get inflation back to 2%.
Rather than fearing inflation, they’re fearing the fight against inflation.” Schiff said. “Because how is the Fed going to fight inflation? It’s going to jack up interest rates. It’s going to have a tight monetary policy. In fact, it’s even going to start shrinking the balance sheet. It’s going to start taking money out of circulation — quantitative tightening. It’s going to reverse all of that inflation. It’s going to suck up that liquidity. And that is what is scaring investors out of buying gold and silver. They still have confidence in the Federal Reserve.”
Peter said faith in the Fed is misplaced, and he emphasized that the Fed is only pretending it’s going to fight inflation.
Because it’s also pretending the economy is strong enough to withstand the fight. It’s not. Even though the fight is inadequate to solve the inflation problem, it’s going to cause a big problem for the economy that is so levered up on debt.”
A senior commodities broker with RJO Futures told Kitco News that he doesn’t think interest rates can go too much higher because of the government’s massive twin deficits – budget and trade.
Gold futures are capped by rising interest rates, but people have been going out to buy the physical metal to have some ‘real money’ stashed away.”
This article appeared at ZeroHedge.com at: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/demand-american-gold-eagles-explodes
