US Mint Sells Out Of Silver Eagles Following "Tremendous" De

[camtender]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-0 ... ous-demand


When it comes to buyers of physical assets as opposed to traders of paper representations of such assets, there is one key difference: the latter, more than anything, enjoy looking at "heatmaps", chasing trends and jumping on momentum, the result being the most recent massive selloff in such "paper" representations of precious metals as the GLD and SLV ETFs, and various gold futures.

On the other hand, those who prefer to hold the metal in their hands, as well as others such as China whose ravenous apetite for gold over the past 4 years has been extensively covered here in the past, take every advantage of selloffs, and - inconceivably - demonstrate how Econ 101, namely supply and demand, really works, leading to ever greater demand the lower the price. Demand so high, in fact, that the underlying commodity that is being sold through paper conduits, sells out.

This is precisely what happened at the U.S. Mint, which just sold out of all silver American Eagle silver bullion coins, following "tremendous" demand in the past several weeks, according to Reuters reports.

This should hardly come as a surprise: over the weekend we reported that "Silver Coin Sales At US Mint Soar To Highest In Two Years."

Sales surged to 5.79 million ounces, the most since January 2013, the month that set an all-time high at 7.5 million, Bloomberg reports. "Today, sales jumped 33 percent in one of the busiest times this year", Tom Jurkowsky, a spokesman at the Washington-based mint, said in an interview. Last month’s total was 4.14 million.

“We saw demand surge over the past two days,” Michael Kramer, the president of New York-based MTB Inc., a dealer authorized to purchase coins directly from the mint, said in a telephone interview. “Business was almost triple than what it has been over the past few months.”

Logically, as a result of the surge in physical demand, silver futures for December delivery dropped 1.9 percent to close at $16.106 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price touched $15.635, the lowest for a most-active contract since Feb. 25, 2010.

Because when it comes to precious metals, thanks to the BIS and the central banks, Paper beats Rock every time.


Which brings us to today, when according to an alert issued to dealers across the US, some 2 million ounces of silver sold out just after noon, Eastern time, following the sale of over 1 million ounces in just the first two days of the month.

In a statement sent to its biggest U.S. coin wholesalers, the U.S. Mint says it will continue to produce 2014-dated coins. The Mint will advise when additional inventory will become available for sale without providing further details.

The announcement has not been made available to the public, but a U.S. Mint spokesman confirmed that it has sent the statement to its authorized participants.

A sharp break in gold prices to their lowest in more than four years last week has unleashed a surge in demand for silver and gold coins in North America and Europe.
As A-Mark, one of the largest bullion distributors in the country added, "The US Mint has just announced that they are temporarily sold out of American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins. They are in the process of producing more and will advise when additional inventory is available. If you previously received fixed premium pricing from us, it is no longer valid."

So... even lower prices coming, right?

And since everything else in the New Normal is now flipped on its head, it only makes sense that the continued price collapse for precious metals is, as it turns out, driven by ever greater demand!

[beauanderos]

I got a note from SDBullion regarding the sell-out. They stated that "one of the largest online dealers" had overcommitted and now could not fill their orders and, thus, were cancelling them. They didn't mention a name, but maybe it was Amark?

Be interesting to see how this affects the premium on the Eagles. Probably be $4 a coin before you know it.

[christostock]

My wholesaler just pushed premiums up on boxes of ASE today.
I called him this morning to ask if the premiums were still the same, he said yes(this was when silver was at $15.20) DAMN!!!!!
Then I get an email this afternoon saying to call for new premiums.

[pennypicker]

I got a note from SDBullion regarding the sell-out. They stated that "one of the largest online dealers" had overcommitted and now could not fill their orders and, thus, were cancelling them. They didn't mention a name, but maybe it was Amark?

Be interesting to see how this affects the premium on the Eagles. Probably be $4 a coin before you know it.

$4 on what is now a bullion round containing just $15.32 in silver is one heck of a big premium--percentage wise. I didn't like paying a $4 premium on eagles when they were $40+ each and I surely won't pay a $4 premium now--but that's just me.

[silverflake]

I has SD Bullion and Provident up on side by side screens. Looks like stock is running low at both on some of their bullion coins. I was looking at U.S. Eagles on SD when the premium went from 2.99 to 5.99 in a flash!!!!! Then an alert came across about U.S. Mint shortage. So I snapped up some Maple Leafs.

Talk about proof of a manipulated market. Price goes down while demand is absolutely crazy...

Stack stack stack!!!!!!!!!!

[silverstacker]

I has SD Bullion and Provident up on side by side screens. Looks like stock is running low at both on some of their bullion coins. I was looking at U.S. Eagles on SD when the premium went from 2.99 to 5.99 in a flash!!!!! Then an alert came across about U.S. Mint shortage. So I snapped up some Maple Leafs.

Talk about proof of a manipulated market. Price goes down while demand is absolutely crazy...

Stack stack stack!!!!!!!!!!

I went to my LCS yesterday and they were completely empty. Tumble weeds were rolling around in there. They has 2 ML for $5 over spot and 3 pandas for a straight $30 each. They did tell me that they have already purchased a large some of 1,5 and 10 oz pieces from GSM that should are arrive on Thursday. They already told me that the generic 1oz pcs will go for $3 over spot and the 5 and 10 pcs will go for $5 over spot. Ouch. To make their situation worse they bought yesterday and not today when it really dropped.

It you can find it at a good price grab it

[brian0918]

Talk about proof of a manipulated market. Price goes down while demand is absolutely crazy...

I don't think it's manipulation. You would expect demand to skyrocket if the price plummeted. That's true for anything. And supply is drying up precisely because the price continues to drop. Nobody wants to sell at this price except the companies that make it their business.

[silverflake]

Good point brian0918. Still, I would say stack at these prices while you can. I remember not too long ago I was ecstatic to get 1 oz. bullion coins between $25-30. Trade your cotton fiber FRNs for the real stuff.

Stack

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

This happened 2-3 times before didn't it?

It doesn't mean much. There is no silver shortage, the mint simply underestimated their planchet order from Sunshine. They'll make more.

All this silver shortage talk over the last few years has been proven to be nothing but lies. It's a bullion dealers marketing ploy.

[agnostic]

To da moon! Alice!

[silverstacker]

This happened 2-3 times before didn't it?

It doesn't mean much. There is no silver shortage, the mint simply underestimated their planchet order from Sunshine. They'll make more.

All this silver shortage talk over the last few years has been proven to be nothing but lies. It's a bullion dealers marketing ploy.

+1

[deacon]

This happened 2-3 times before didn't it?

It doesn't mean much. There is no silver shortage, the mint simply underestimated their planchet order from Sunshine. They'll make more.

All this silver shortage talk over the last few years has been proven to be nothing but lies. It's a bullion dealers marketing ploy.

I'm with you. We've been hearing how the COMEX is about to bust, silver is selling out, ect for years now. Each time, silver comes back on the market. I guess I'm tired of all the pumping.

[ZenOps]

Silver in all forms could be bought out fairly quickly just based on pure dollars and current spot valuations.

Gold is more like a $100 billion dollar a year market along with copper which is also around $100 billion, silver is more like $10 billion. Nickel is around $25 billion.

In dollar terms, copper is the exact same market size as gold.

When Japan printed up 80 trillion yen at the beginning of the week ($720 US Billion equivalent) IF they only bought one metal: They could probably only buy 7 or so years worth of gold production, or 70 years worth of silver production.

People tend to get this crazy idea that only the US dollar can be printed into oblivion. When in fact, the Canadian dollar has been QE'd at a much higher per capita rate than the US dollar.

Of note: Nickel has only been refined on large scale since about 1950, gold and silver both have at least 5000 year headstarts on mining production.

[beauanderos]

So why aren't we seeing any stories on Japanese investors snapping up precious metals to protect against the idiocy Abe is promoting? Is the only
demand from India and China? Where are the South Korean's in all this? I know there's a lot of wealthy Japanese... but do they know something we
Americans don't? Or are there just no precious metals pump and dumpers over there?

A side note... it would seem like with the BOJ target of doubling their monetary base, and their stated support of Japanese equity ETF's... that this
might not be a bad time to hop on board that train... but when I looked up Japanese ETF's they don't appear to have been doing well this year.

[deacon]

You could, but another option would be to play the FOREX game. Betting against the yen will probably be lucrative for a while.

[beauanderos]

You could, but another option would be to play the FOREX game. Betting against the yen will probably be lucrative for a while.

Don't have a clue how to play the FOREX. I've always heard it's an excellent way to lose money... FAST. Playing against the most brilliant investors/hedge funds
in the world, those with deep enough pockets to push the market whichever direction they want.

Just sent the following to Steve St. Angelo (the SRSrocco Report):

Steve,
thanks for your tireless efforts in shedding light on the opportunities afforded those who desire to accumulate silver and gold to protect their purchasing power against dollar depreciation before the ravages of inflation become manifest. I always enjoy reading your work and rank you among the vanguard of a small elite cadre of adroit commodities analysts.

We always hear of precious metals demand emanating from China and India. What I'm wondering now is this. With the declared intent of the BOJ, directed by Abe, to double their monetary base... what percentage (or monetary inflows) of wealthy Japanese are positioning themselves in silver and gold? I don't know if such figures are easily obtainable, but it would be interesting (to me at least) to determine if Asian demand is buttressed by more than the two giants.

South Korea? VietNam? Singapore? Does it seem like it's only a few disparate individuals that are beginning a shift in asset allocation among the globe's wealthiest, or do worldwide sales of silver or gold support the thesis that a groundswell of small buyers (as well) are beginning to place an emphasis on building portfolios that heed your advice?

Best of luck in your ongoing reportage.

[ZenOps]

So why aren't we seeing any stories on Japanese investors snapping up precious metals to protect against the idiocy Abe is promoting? Is the only
demand from India and China? Where are the South Korean's in all this? I know there's a lot of wealthy Japanese... but do they know something we
Americans don't? Or are there just no precious metals pump and dumpers over there?

A side note... it would seem like with the BOJ target of doubling their monetary base, and their stated support of Japanese equity ETF's... that this
might not be a bad time to hop on board that train... but when I looked up Japanese ETF's they don't appear to have been doing well this year.

Thats exactly what I think is happening right now. China is buying physical because they are pissed off that Japan printed like crazy. China is more or less ok with "losing" to the US, but losing to Japan is unthinkable.

Japan printing money in this manner is probably mostly going toward minimum 2-year bond purchases. The IMF doesn't really allow printing just for the sake of asset grabs, especially commodity grabs. But as we all know fiat is liquid, and eventually it will find its way into the worldwide currency pool.

Sure, playing the Yen (and yen debt) right now might be highly profitable.

[Recyclersteve]

As of 11/30/14, the U.S. Mint site is showing that 41.547 million silver Eagles have now been sold year-to-date. This is just 1.128 million away from tying last year's all-time record of 42.675 million.

I wonder if the aggressive paper shorts know about the demand for physical from the mint, or if they even care.

[Cu Penny Hoarder]

As of 11/30/14, the U.S. Mint site is showing that 41.547 million silver Eagles have now been sold year-to-date. This is just 1.128 million away from tying last year's all-time record of 42.675 million.

I wonder if the aggressive paper shorts know about the demand for physical from the mint, or if they even care.

They simply don't care. Tons of cash was made over the last 3.5 years shorting silver. One day, they'll make tons of cash on the upside. It's just one big paper profit machine to these psychopaths.

[beauanderos]

As of 11/30/14, the U.S. Mint site is showing that 41.547 million silver Eagles have now been sold year-to-date. This is just 1.128 million away from tying last year's all-time record of 42.675 million.

I wonder if the aggressive paper shorts know about the demand for physical from the mint, or if they even care.

They simply don't care. Tons of cash was made over the last 3.5 years shorting silver. One day, they'll make tons of cash on the upside. It's just one big paper profit machine to these psychopaths.

I don't even think it's "bullion banks and hedge funds" moving the markets. Sure, they might capitalize on it by jumping on the wagon when they see a trend developing, or front-running the trades with HFT algorithms... but I think The Fed (and like-minded Central Banks, IMF) is behind it all, when all is said and done. They "spend" trillions (which they just create from thin air) to subsidize the QE programs... why would they care if they designate a random trillion here, trillion there, expressly for the purpose of continuously crushing precious metals sentiments? Think about it. What do they have to gain? Maintaining the status quo, ie dollar as the reserve currency and life as it is. At what cost? Nothing, as far as they're concerned (eventual hyperinflation for the rest of us). What do they have to lose? Billions of dollars by being "on the wrong side of the future's trades." So what? Again... it's not costing them anything except to push a few buttons, click a few keys.

[angel2004]

Just so you know the Mint still has the 2014 as well as 2013 dollar set for sale for just one dollar more than they were selling the individual unc. eagle for. Somehow that slips by the radar. Really a better deal since the individual unc. eagle was 43.95 and the dollar set 44.95