The market dropped a stunning 777 points today, the worst drop in years. Not surprisingly, gold held it's ground today.In fact, it even popped $20 this morning as the market plummeted. The same way oil is reverting to a thought process of old, gold seems to be regaining its role as a “flight to safety.” It's currently selling for just over $900/oz.
But gold is still down 10% from it's highs this year of $1030/oz. Funnily enough,as the market for gold ramps up, the U.S. government has suspended sales of its most popular 24-karat gold coin.
The 24-karat American Buffalo is in such high demand that the US Mint has simply run out. The U.S. Mint sang the same tune for the 1-ounce American Eagle coins back in August. After running out of Eagles, the Mint suspended sales and later reopened the market to only “designated dealers.”
As of last week, the Mint had sold over 164,000 American Buffalo coins in 2008, up 54% from the same time last year.
Isn't it odd that there is a shortage of physical gold and yet the prices are lower than they were several months ago? Am I the only one wondering about this supply-demand anomaly? Or maybe it's a new economy, just like the stock market in 1999 when revenue and profits didn't matter, but esoteric new criteria like "number of eyeballs" were developed.
If you want to buy gold coins and are having a tough time finding them, check out this store which aggregates my favorite set of gold coin collectibles.
