Gold Market Glitters

Cryptocurrencies now have something in common with the NASDAQ and bond market: In times of economic uncertainty, investors lose their appetite for these products in favor of gold. All three products are declining in value as this commentary is being written, while gold is at the highest price the yellow metal has been at in a month. As Jon Sindreu put it in an April 13 Wall Street Journal editorial, “Economists have distinguished between the ‘chartalist’ theory by which money is granted value by the power of the state and the ‘metalist’ view that money only has true value if made up of a scarce commodity… Crypto investors need the latter to be true, but the situation in Russia is piling up ever more evidence in favor of the former.”

Bullion and bullion-impacted coins have reacted in tandem with the spot price of gold, once again fueling already heated demand for gold. A similar scenario is playing out as well for bullion and for generally available circulation strike silver coins. More challenging to obtain coins, especially those being in the scarce to rare range, haven’t been impacted by this at all, continuing to appreciate due to increasing demand coupled with the cash to pay top dollar where necessary.

Collectors interested in new U.S. Mint products are waiting for the 2022 Kennedy half dollars scheduled for release on May 5. (See AnnounceMints on Page 7 for more details.) The U.S. Mint no longer ships new Native American dollar coins to the Federal Reserve but offers them to collectors.

Anyone thinking the cent may be on its way out should be aware that, in March, the lowly cent represented 53.7 percent of all business strike coins produced by the mint, this being needed to fill Federal Reserve orders. Who says physical cash is out of fashion?