A-Mark Bullion Update
The hangover from last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting continues to afflict the precious metals. Gold has traded lower for four consecutive sessions now and is set to make its lowest close in over a month today. Recent equity and USD strength has contributed to traders and investors exiting from long precious metals positions. Gold is now well under all major moving averages and next major support is coming in at the psychological figure of $1,100. According to US Mint data, gold coin sales in October totaled 44,500 ounces, down 50% year on year for the same period. Silver coin sales over the last month totaled 3.8 million ounces, a drop of 35% year on year. Keep in mind that the silver figures don’t reveal the full story as the US Mint has been on allocation since June of this year. This means that authorized purchasers have been restricted each week to a finite number of coins even though market demand has clearly outstripped supply. While silver coin demand has remained robust over the past few months, silver exchange traded holdings are at their lowest level since July of 2013.