Gold actions speak loudly or whisper?

Yesterday’s jump in the price of gold had me checking the Mint’s sales of the one-ounce gold American Eagles to see if any kind of confirmation of a bottom might be at hand.

The verdict?

Too soon to tell.

Gold Eagle sales might indicate that demand for the coins has bottomed out, but we won’t really know for sure until the end of the month.

Why?

So far in the month of July 30,500 of the one-ounce gold Eagle coins have been sold.

Through June, the month with the lowest sales total in 2013, the total was at 49,000 pieces sold.

July’s sales total is sitting at a point where sales could fall below June, or be somewhat ahead of June. In either case, the result would not be a strong indicator one way or the other unless sales absolutely stop between now and July 31 or they surge dramatically. Neither of these possibilities seem likely.

Gold owners would like to see a repetition of the April sales pattern when weakness in the market price of bullion led to an incredible surge in demand, more than tripling the March sales total of 54,000. The April total of 187,500 even exceeded the January sales total of 124,500 when everybody seemed to pile into the market to acquire the new date.

From the April high, May sales fell by two-thirds to 61,500.

So, what direction is likely for Eagle sales from here?

Strongly up?

Strongly down?

Or, a continuation of what seems more like meandering?

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."