Buy Gold Bullion | Gold, Silver Post Weekly Gain; US Mint Bullion Sales Slower | Coin ... | News2Gold

Gold, Silver Post Weekly Gain; US Mint Bullion Sales Slower | Coin ...
How to Buy Gold Bullion: A Guide | Gold IRA Rollover
India's BJP Win to Boost Gold Prices? | Gold News
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Gold, Silver Post Weekly Gain; US Mint Bullion Sales Slower | Coin ...

Posted: 17 May 2014 10:36 AM PDT

Precious metals logged weekly gains. US Mint bullion sales slowed overall from the prior week, though Silver Eagle sales still maintained a record pace. Gold Eagle sales almost halved.

Precious metals ended with narrow changes on Friday but firmed from a week ago with gains of 0.5% for gold, 1.1% for silver, 2.5% for platinum and 1.9% for palladium.

Gold for June delivery on Friday slipped 20 cents to settle at $1,293.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"Gold continues to act as a pretty good hedge so far this year and I don't anticipate that will change," MarketWatch quoted Adam Koos, president and portfolio manager at Libertas Wealth Management Group. "So, if you're starting to get the jitters when it comes to the stock market, bond market, rates, inflation, or our buddy [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, adding a position to gold somewhere along the way probably wouldn't hurt you."

Gold drove to a one-month high on Wednesday but then dropped the gains on Thursday despite news of rising inflation.

Gold Outlook and YTD Gains

In the latest Kitco News survey, there is no majority consensus for the direction of gold next week. Eleven participants expect prices to move sideways or are neutral while 8 see them lower and 6 see them higher.

"Right now this is a pocket-picking trade. People say there are up trends and down trends, but there are also sideways trends and that's where we are. Eventually we'll break out of it, but it's impossible to figure out how, so you have to reduce exposure. The only thing supporting this is the Ukraine, but it's not going higher on the Ukraine," said Charles Nedoss, senior market strategist at LaSalle Futures Group.

Surveys from each of the prior two weeks were weighted bearish.

Gold prices this year have advanced $91.60, or 7.6%, since ending last year at $1,202.30 an ounce.

Silver, Platinum and Palladium Futures

Silver and platinum dropped for a second straight session on Friday while palladium bucked the downward daily trend of precious metals. In the breakdowns:

Silver for July delivery shed 16 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $19.33 an ounce.
July platinum lost $3.80, or 0.3%, to $1,466.10 an ounce.
Palladium for June delivery gained $2.90, or 0.4%, to $815 an ounce.

For the year-to-date, platinum has increased 6.7% and palladium has jumped 13.5%. Silver is alone with a modest 0.2% loss since the end of 2013.

London Fix Precious Metals

London precious metal fixings declined on Friday but advanced on the week. When comparing London fix bullion prices from Thursday PM to Friday PM:

Gold fell $7.50, or 0.6%, to $1,291.50 an ounce,
Silver lost 33 cents, or 1.7%, to $19.33 an ounce,
Platinum shed $7, or 0.5%, to $1,464 an ounce, and
Palladium fell $5, or 0.6%, to $816 an ounce

Weekly gains totaled 0.02% for gold (25 cents), 0.4% for silver, 2.4% for platinum and 1.5% for palladium.

US Mint Bullion Sales

Sales of U.S. Mint bullion products slowed in the last few days. In the latest week-over-week comparisons:

Gold coin sales added 9,000 ounces after gaining 11,500 ounces last week. Splits were 5,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles compared to 10,500 ounces previously and 3,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos after 1,000 ounces previously.
American Silver Eagles added 918,000 compared to 1,151,500 last week. The silver coins topped the year-to-date mark of 20 million on Tuesday and are now at 20,710,000 — a record pace. Last year when the annual Silver Eagle sales record was hit, the coins had reached 20,043,500 by May 16, 2013.
America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coins rose 2,000, or 10,000 ounces after gaining 18,700, or 93,500 ounces, in the previous week.
In the tenth full week of release after a five-year hiatus, American Platinum Eagles added 100 after rising 600 previously.

In related bullion news, the Silver Institute this week released its annual World Silver Survey. The survey noted that physical silver demand soared in 2013, led by a 76% gain in retail investment in silver coins and silver bars.

Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold last week, this week, last month, the month so far, and the year-to-date.

American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins)
	Friday Sales	Sales Last Week	Weekly Sales	April Sales	May Sales	YTD Sales
$100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins	0	600	100	1,200	700	11,900
$50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins	0	9,500	2,000	26,000	11,500	138,000
$25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins	0	0	3,000	5,000	3,000	25,000
$10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins	0	0	6,000	20,000	6,000	68,000
$5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins	0	10,000	5,000	55,000	20,000	310,000
$50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins	0	1,000	3,500	17,500	6,000	89,000
$1 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins	0	1,151,500	918,000	3,569,500	3,262,000	20,710,000
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins	0	3,500	0	10,600	3,500	26,500
Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins	0	15,200	2,000	N/A	17,200	17,200

How to Buy Gold Bullion: A Guide | Gold IRA Rollover

Posted: 30 Apr 2014 05:03 PM PDT

The financial world has been completely rocked to its very core over the last 10 years and maybe just a bit longer, with traditional assets like the stock market, commodities market, and real estate world collapsing under the weight and pressure of the missteps and mistakes made over that same time span.

And though our leadership continues to say that times are getting better, the truth of the matter is we have yet to see that light at the end of the tunnel – at least with those major investment opportunities.

On the other hand, gold (and a few other tangible investment opportunities) continue to soar ever higher in value. In fact, gold raised its value more than 17% between the year 2000 and the year 2011 – and has continued to jump ever higher.

However, most people aren't aware of how to buy gold bullion or how to begin investing with this type of tangible asset. Hopefully by the time you're done with this quick guide you'll have a better understanding.

Why invest in gold in the first place?

As mentioned above, gold has seen its value skyrocket in just the last 10 or 15 years, and has easily blown past $2000 an ounce!

An asset and investment that has been valuable ever since the dawn of humanity (and used as a currency for thousands and thousands of years), this is one of the smartest and savviest investment moves you could ever make. Learning how to buy gold bullion just might be the only thing you need to tackle to create the financial future of your dreams!

Why invest in tangible gold assets and investments?

However, you have to make sure that you aren't suckered into deals that force you to invest in gold certificates, gold stocks, or other "intangible assets" revolving around the gold world. Sure, they seem like safe bets on the surface, but there are precious few things that can build someone's confidence quite like holding a brick of gold bullion in your hands and knowing that you could liquidate the asset at any point in time without any headache or hassle.

When you learn how to buy gold bullion (or any other tangible gold asset, for that matter) you are learning how to avoid risk and improve safety and security.

The cons to investing in gold

On the flip side, because gold has skyrocketed in value in the last few years you're going to be looking at a relatively steep price tag for entry. However, you need to think of this ticket to the "big show" as an investment, as it will almost certainly pay off in the years to come.

There's also the matter of safely storing and protecting your tangible gold assets and gold bullion, but that's another guide entirely!

How to buy gold bullion today

If you want to get started down the path of learning how to buy gold bullion today, you have a couple of different options.

On the one hand, you could purchase your goal directly from a gold dealer – but you'll end up paying the highest possible prices and top market value which will hamper your ability to get the highest return on investment later down the line.

You might just want to purchase gold from those that already have the tangible assets, setting up advertisements online or in your local area and giving cash for their gold. This also carries some risk, but it's one of the best ways to get tangible gold assets for a fraction of what you would have had to pay otherwise!

India's BJP Win to Boost Gold Prices? | Gold News

Posted: 12 May 2014 09:30 AM PDT

Gold prices might pop short-term. But 3 facts say Western guesswork will likely be disappointed...

FOR A NATION where gold investment and ownership matters so very much, politicians in India have gone awful quiet about its de facto ban on gold imports during the current national elections, writes Adrian Ash at BullionVault.

Finally ending in Varanasi on Monday after four weeks touring the country, India's elections are widely expected to land BJP leader Narendra Modi the prime minister's job. The gold and jewelry industry in India – former world No.1 consumer nation, but with barely an ounce of domestic mine output – last year sided with Modi, and Modi sided with the two-million or so gold industry workers. The incumbent Congress Party, in contrast, has faced down India's deeply-rooted culture, history and savings habits to try and curb gold inflows, making a hot topic of the Current Account Deficit (CAD) and making enemies of the jewellery business and plenty of other voters meantime.

Victory for the BJP might therefore boost global gold prices. Or so you might think. But there are three problems with guessing that a more gold-friendly administration in India will automatically mean gold rising.

First, the BJP's manifesto makes no mention of gold. Not a word on bullion or jewelry either, despite previously saying the anti-import rules would be reviewed inside 3 months of taking power. Instead, the manifesto vows that "CAD will be brought down aggressively, by focusing on exports and reducing the dependency on imports." So far, so vague and so what? Whatever Modi's apparent support for ending India's ban on gold imports, he's never stated clearly how the BJP plans to address the issue. Any action on gold "should take into account the interests of the public and traders," Modi is quoted today by BusinessWorld magazine, "not just economics and policy." If ever a lobby group looked set for disappointment, this would be it.

The 10% import duty looks set to be trimmed anyway if Congress did somehow win re-election, if only as a way of claiming the anti-import policy is working and a little more gold can now be allowed. Instead the kicker remains India's 80:20 rule, under which 20% of all new shipments must be re-exported before the rest can clear customs. Causing such confusion last summer that India's monthly gold imports sank from record highs to zero, that rule was imposed by the independent Reserve Bank. So it's not actually in government's gift to repeal immediately. And like shaving the top off the high rate of duty, tweaking that ratio would now embed the policy, making it a more permanent part of India's gold regulation.

Second, India hasn't been short of gold anyway. "We see reports of gold smuggling reappearing," as Modi said this January. "In the 1960s and 70s, when gold smuggling was big, it created the underworld, which troubles us even now." India was still the world's No.1 consumer before imports were deregulated in the early 1990s. Today's heavy import duties offer fat margins to so-called "grey market" inflows and the gangsters who run them. So despite the anti-import rules, India's private gold demand rose more than 12% to 975 tonnes last year, according to data compiled by market-development organization the World Gold Council. Its full-year 2013 Gold Demand Trends put India's gold smuggling "closer to the top end" of 150-200 tonnes – a figure which would widen India's official CAD by some 20% from the government's earlier fiscal-year forecast of $45 billion, or even 25% if the newly revised $35bn forecast is to be believed.

Third, whatever happens to India's gold policy in the coming weeks and months, it's highly unlikely to boost prices either way. Because people who buy gold because it's gold – led by Indian and Chinese households – don't push gold higher. What counts for a bull market are not consumers, but people who buy gold because it isn't anything else, meaning investors. Just look at 2013's price action. Imports to India hit all-time highs last spring. Chinese demand was also off the charts. Yet prices were meantime falling at the fastest pace on record. Anyone scratching their head needs simply to swap the horse and cart around to see how this rolled forwards, with Western money managers reducing their gold holdings to buy the equities, credit and real-estate exposure they'd fled five years before.

By the time India slammed the shutters with the 80:20 rule in July, gold had already completed its 30% drop for 2013. The back-half of last year saw Dollar prices go sideways even as the subcontinent's legal, visible demand vanished. Its return would by no means suggest a strong rise from current levels.

The root cause of India's huge gold demand meanwhile remains unaddressed. According to Modi's rhetoric, some Congress Party leaders think it stems from financial ignorance and ill-education amongst the rural poor. Certainly they have cast buying gold as anti-social, a waste of resources in a "useless" asset which should be put to public use instead. But in truth, people choose to buy gold with their own money when that money loses value, and for Indian households, that's been the case pretty much every year since WWII.

Like the US Fed or Bank of England at the start of the 1980s then, the Reserve Bank of India could curb all gold demand – legal and grey – overnight if it wished. But strong real rates of interest aren't politically popular anywhere here in 2014. So Western traders and investors watching the heaviest buyers for some kind of direction might expect the floor which Indian, Chinese and Western retail demand put beneath gold prices last year to stay firm in 2014.

No, India's gold buyers didn't spur a surge in prices. But they plainly like a bargain in gold, and they have – over the last 14 years – stepped up their demand at ever-higher prices both in Dollar and Rupee terms.

News Room Magazine » Blog Archive » Buy Gold Bullion Products ...

Posted: 19 Apr 2014 05:49 AM PDT

Refined gold coins and gold bars, known collectively as gold bullion products, are available in many different types, sizes, and weights. These products are being promoted as some of the safest investment vehicles, especially since they are unlike other options, such as paper-based investments, that are impacted severely by a variety of market factors. If this is the first time that you will buy gold bullion, whether they may be coins or bars, it is important for you to know how you can protect your investments and secure your financial future.

Determine your Exact Reasons for Purchasing Gold Bullion Products

There are two main reasons as to why people purchase gold. One is for collecting, two is for investing. Before you purchase products made from this precious metal, you first need to determine why you plan on doing so. Do you simply want to have a gold collection or are you interested in securing your financial future? The reason as to why you need to ask this is because not all gold bullion products are made for investing – they simply serve as collectibles. Yes, they still hold value, but they will not be able to perform well as investment vehicles.

Factor in the Historical Performance of Gold Bullion

You should also never forget to factor in the historical performance of gold over the past years. Again, collectible gold is different from those that can be included in investment portfolios, so you have to decide which one of the two is your reason for buying. In other words, before you buy gold bullion, you should also keep in mind how this precious metal performed in the past. You should also understand that the value of this precious metal is volatile over the short term, but can perform well in the long run.

Take into Consideration Weight and Purity

There are two very important factors that should be taken into consideration when you purchase gold bullion, especially in the form of bars.

Weight – As mentioned above, gold bars are available in many different sizes, which affect their weight. You will find 1 gram gold bars, with some weighing up to 440 grams. As a rule of thumb, you should go for the largest (or heaviest) gold bar that your budget can afford.

Purity – Most of the gold bars being offered today are stamped with their purity value, and this value depends on the mint. The average purity of gold bullion bars is 99.8 percent. However, you will find government-backed bars that can have as much as 99.9 percent purity.

Choose a Highly Trustworthy Company for your Gold Bullion Products

Now that you know more about the most important things to remember when you buy gold bullion, the next step is for you to look for a highly trustworthy company that sells or deals products made from this very valuable metal. It is a must that you read reviews about these companies, as you do not want to be ripped off your hard-earned money. One website that will help you locate the best gold bullion dealer is Focus on the User, which you will find at www.focusontheuser.org