1 US Mint Gold and Silver Bullion Sales July 2009 Posted by Gold Silver | at 12:56 PM

During the month of July, sales of physical bullion at the United States Mint were somewhat split. In the case of silver, sales as measured by the number of ounces sold reached the second highest level of the year. In the case of gold, sales as measured in ounces marked the second lowest total for the year.

The table below displays the number of ounces of gold bullion sold by the United States Mint during the month of July. As the case has been all year, sales were limited to one ounce American Gold Eagles and one ounce American Silver Eagles. Platinum bullion and fractional gold bullion coins were not offered.

July 2009 US Mint Bullion Sales
	1 oz.	1/2 oz.	1/4 oz.	1/10 oz.	Total oz.	YTD Total oz.
Gold Eagle	86,000	-	-	-	86,000	756,500
Silver Eagle	2,810,000				2,810,000	16,634,500
Platinum Eagle	-	-	-	-	-

Sales of the Gold Eagle reached 86,000 ounces. As mentioned, this represented the second lowest monthly sales total this year. The low of 65,000 took place in May. It should be noted that the level of sales still remains above the monthly total reach one year ago in July 2008 when 50,000 ounces were sold. Although the furious pace of gold sales has slowed, it remains historically high.

Sales of Silver Eagle bullion coins reached 2,810,000, marking the second highest monthly total of the year. The highest level was reached in March when 3,132,000 ounces were sold. This month's total represents a hefty125% increase over the sales levels from the year ago period. Notably, the number of ounces of silver sold year to date is now approaching the total number of ounces sold during the entire year of 2008, which was 19,583,500. One more month of strong sales would push this year's total above the mark.

0 Silver and Gold Investments Posted by Gold Silver | at 9:47 PM

During a bad economy, especially when major banks fail, the first thing that comes across many minds is to cash out on all investments and hide your hard-earned money under your mattress or a safe within your home. Savvy investors do the exact opposite. Smart investors will keep their money invested and some will even invest more money in the market. In today’s market, even the savviest investors are very concerned about their investments, even in the silver and gold markets.

The dilemma of financially stabilizing the world economy is usually met with the fiscal Establishment printing more money, Euros and dollars. Freshly printed money that does not purchase the desire of the government, causes inflation and will continue to do so until people reject paper money. Savvy investors believe that until there is official use of gold and silver in the global monetary system our international financial system will never stabilize.

Investors have many reasons why they are leery concerning precious metals especially in the middle of a financial crisis. Silver is not always thought as a metal of monetary means anymore, therefore it is not purchased as such. Fortunately insightful financial investors believe they can use gold and silver, not for profits, but for barriers to protect against depression and inflation, plus they do not want to miss an opportunity to achieve greater profits in financial slumps. Even with studies and observations about the market of precious metals, numerous astute investors are sure that silver has the potential of greater returns in various markets. Although financial history dictates the instability of silver will lead for it to perform better than gold in terms of percentage on the upside but worse on the downside, industrial demand on silver can cause an increase in commodity prices and silver investments may thrive in this situation.

A number of investors declare that silver is not a monetary metal anymore because of its industrial uses and the IMF (International Metalworkers Federation-who track precious metals that nations hold) would agree with them as they care little about silver. Gold and silver have been used as money for more than a thousand years and people determine what should serve as currency of money. Money currencies have obvious flaws and when governments inflate money supplies the flaws become evident. Securing investments in gold and silver will allow individuals to have ‘fruits of labor’ even during hard economic times.

0 The Gold and Silver Markets Continue to Survive in A Bad Economy Posted by Gold Silver | at 9:40 PM

According to some experts, the U.S. economy will bounce back by 2010. Investors are still wary about the possibility of losing their investments in stocks and bonds. Even though gold and silver are considered to be more stable than stocks, investors are still very concerned.

Although the statistics are not very accurate, it is estimated that retail investments have an allocation in gold and silver at the most two percent. Since the “financial layman” barely has knowledge of the price of gold and silver in any market, a number of financial advisors and retail investors don’t have a reason why a person should choose gold or silver or how they would go about making an investment.

While gold has made a strong comeback, the US stock markets have less pressure again after a seven year low close on the Dow Jones. There is definitely a chance of panic when the stock market does poorly and has a negative effect on the worldwide economy, even thou gold and silver procured have produced sound foundations in the short, intermediate and long terms.

Desperate attempts by central banks and governments to delay deflation of currency are hindering the market, and even creating a worldwide crisis, while investors move to more tangible hard assets to protect their investments.

The non-specialized, sporadic media coverage of gold and silver hasn’t changed over the years, and remains indifferent almost negative with regard to financial conditions. The lack of coverage would indicate gold and silver are in the primary to middle stages of the bull market. “Gold fever” causes misconceptions in the commodities market. The fact is that just a small fraction of retail investors have an allocated interest in gold and silver, the overweight metals.

Lately, there have been misconceptions about gold. For example, many believe that gold is overvalued and many investors will experience a great lose. As a matter of fact, there has been polls taken that say numerous analysts are very optimistic about the gold and silver markets. These analysts remain positive toward gold and silver despite current worldwide economic and financial disasters.

Apprehensive analysts are usually stockbrokers, product sellers and others that have a vested interest in the negative outlook towards gold and silver. To find out further information about the gold and silver markets, search online for the latest news.

0 Silver ETF Anomalies, National Gold Exchange, Regan Gold and Silver Coins Posted by Gold Silver | at 11:03 PM

I'm still catching up after a vacation in Europe. For now here are links to some recommended articles about gold, silver, and precious metals from around the net.

Multiple Anomalies Detected in Silver ETFs

A recently released working paper on statistical and factual anomalies in silver ETFs including internal duplicates, weight duplicates, statistical clustering, and cross-reference duplicates. From the conclusions section: "The only way for all of these anomalies to occur together as noted in this paper, is via systemic fraud or gross accounting error bordering on jaw-dropping incompetence."

Greenlight Holds Bullion

A $5 billion hedge-fund firm switched its entire holding in the Gold ETF to physical gold bullion. During the first quarter the firm held 4.2 million shares of the SPDR Gold Trust.

New law boosts gold bar sale in South Africa

Until recently it was illegal for South Africans to hold unwrought gold, such as gold in bar form. The law change has sparked a surge in new bullion demand.

National Gold Exchange Inc of Tampa

National Gold Exchange, one of the world's largest coin wholesalers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company has more than $50 million in debts.

Catching the Gold Bug

From a few weeks ago. The Wall Street Journal ran this high profile piece on gold investing. Someone interviewed for the article said: "When you’re in uncharted economic waters, people buy gold."

Ronald Regan Gold and Silver Coins Proposed

Should Ronald Reagan appear on gold and silver commemorative coins? Over the years there have apparently been several proposals to put his likeness on a coin, but none ever gained sufficient support to become law.

0 Arensberg bullish on silver Posted by Gold Silver | at 8:44 PM

Gene Arensberg, precious metals analyst and author of the popular Got Gold Report, reiterates in his recent report his bullishness for silver. Although Arensberg is bullish on gold over the longer term, he sees the potential for more immediate upside action in silver.

Arensberg notes that iShares Silver Trust (SLV), the largest silver ETF, lost no holdings in the last reporting week but gained 42.07 tons the prior week. Further, the trust continues to hold more silver than the original custodian agreement called for, now reporting 8,766.93 tons of the metal. SLV turned out to be much more successful than anticipated. Still, Arensberg recommends that SLV investors convert their shares to physical silver.

He notes that premiums on the common forms of physical silver are “. . . back to normal or near normal and availability seemingly adequate regionally, now might be an excellent time to convert shares of SLV into the real deal physical metal.” Later in the report, Arensberg says, “Call it intuition, or trader’s instinct, or whatever, we believe those planning to convert gold and silver ETFs into physical metal might want to do so with a sense of urgency now (emphasis his), as we doubt that premiums will remain near normal for an extended period. Regardless if gold and silver move substantially higher or lower we expect to see premiums moving higher toward the end of the year and maybe much sooner.

From my perspective, I see premiums on physical silver and gold products about as low as they are going to get.

Increasing Arensberg’s bullishness on silver is his analysis of the large commercials’ positions in the silver futures markets. The LCs have increased their short positions in gold, but have steadily refused to take bigger short positions in silver. See Arensberg’s Got Gold Report for his analysis.

Finally, Arensberg recommends that long-term precious metals holders consider switching from gold to silver because of not only market conditions but also because of the gold/silver ratio, which is hovering in the 70:1 area. This is a recommendation with which I agree.

Historically, silver has outperformed gold(on a percentage basis) in all precious metals bull markets. Now, the silver market is experiencing a genuine shortage that should cause silver to continue its trend of outperforming gold.

0 Gold Investment Report - 2009 Second Quarter Posted by Gold Silver | at 6:05 AM

The World Gold Council is out with their latest Gold Investment Digest, providing an analysis of gold for the second quarter. The most notable aspect of the report is the incredible slow down in investment demand experienced during the quarter.

During the second quarter, the price of gold rose from $916.50 per ounce to $934.50. This slight gain compared to much larger gains in major world stock markets and the Dow Jones Commodity Index. Gold had reached a peak price of $981.75 during the quarter before moving lower.

Investment demand for gold showed a big decline from the previous levels, but remained positive. For the second quarter, Gold ETFs showed inflows of 46 tonnes. This compared to inflows of 459 tonnes during the first quarter.

Sales of coins and bars started the second quarter very strong before tapering from May onwards. The report also notes the decline in margins on coins and bars as availability constraints eased. As I have noted in some of the monthly bullion sales reports, although sales have shown month to month declines, levels remain far above year ago levels.

While some have pointed to the recent slow down in investment demand as evidence that the so-called "new gold rush" is over, I think this call is premature. During the quarter world stock markets and sentiment about the economy rebounded from the depths of despair to the current "don't worry be happy" mentality. Despite the shift, gold investors have remained patient and continued overall accumulation of the metal. The allure of an investment which has delivered positive annual returns for eight consecutive years, compared to the perpetual boom and bust of other asset classes, seems to have an enduring appeal.

0 Gold and Silver Eagle Bullion Sales June 2009 Posted by Gold Silver | at 6:04 AM

The US Mint's sales of gold and silver bullion coins during June 2009 showed increases from both the prior month and year ago levels. The increases came amidst two interesting developments for the US Mint's bullion coin programs.

In the middle of the month, the US Mint announced that their long standing rationing programs would be lifted. Authorized purchasers of bullion coins had been limited in the total number of coins that they could order. This had been cited by many as a sign of the high physical demand for precious metals which would eventually drive prices higher.

Later in the month, the US Mint made the seemingly contradictory announcement that the American Gold Buffalo bullion coin offering would be canceled for 2009. This had been the US Mint's 24 karat gold bullion coin, launched in 2006 as a way of competing with other world mints that produced gold coins with greater fineness than the 22 karat Gold Eagle.

Here's a look at the US Mint's gold, silver, and platinum bullion sales during the month of June 2009. A year to date total appears in the last column.

June 2009 US Mint Bullion Sales
	1 oz.	1/2 oz.	1/4 oz.	1/10 oz.	Total oz.	YTD Total oz.
Gold Eagle	116,000	-	-	-	116,000	670,000
Silver Eagle	2,245,000				2,245,000	13,824,500
Platinum Eagle	-	-	-	-	-

Sales of the Gold Eagle were still confined to only the one ounce bullion coin. A total of 116,000 ounces were sold, which was close to double the prior month's sales of 65,000 ounces. This also marks a huge increase from the year ago period when only 15,500 ounces of gold were sold. It's interesting to note that the sales increase comes amidst a down month for gold. Physical gold buyers have tended to increase purchases during period of price decline and curtail purchases during periods of price appreciation.

Sales of the Silver Eagle reached 2,245,000 ounces. This was an increase from the prior month when 1,904,500 ounces were sold and an increase from the year ago period when 1,735,500. With the year now half completed, the American Silver Eagle remains on pace to exceed last year's record sales of 19,583,500 ounces.

Once again, the US Mint did not offer the Platinum Eagle bullion coin in any size.