Gold bullion sales hit record


Investors are rushing to buy gold bars and coins. The US Mint sold 92,000 American Eagle coins last month, four times that sold a year ago and more than it shipped in all of 2007

This is not only a US phenomenon. Other countries' mints are reporting strong sales. John Reade of UBS reported large purchases of coins, seen as a safe haven investment.


Inflows into gold backed exchange funds surged in January pushing holdings to an all time high of 1,317 tonnes. Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS)saw that last months flows of 105 tonnes amounted to half of the world's gold mine output for January. Mr. Reade said that investment in gold could double in 2009 compared with 2007.

UBS(NYSE:UBS) and Goldman Sachs(NYSE:GS) said that some clients are hoarding gold in their vaults. They said this hoarding could drive prices over $1000 per ounce this year.

Jewelry demand has fallen because of the current worldwide downturn. However, investor buying is keeping demand strong. Gold is being used to protect against weakness in world banking systems.

Would you buy gold or silver?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 12, 2012: 07:09 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

18.875-0.255(-1.33)

Alcoa

10.29-0.35(-3.29)

Apple Inc

493.42+0.25(+0.05)

Google Inc 'A'

605.91-5.55(-0.91)

Bank of America

8.07-0.11(-1.34)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.90-0.06(-0.10)

Exxon Mobil Corp

83.80-1.08(-1.27)

Ford

12.44-0.25(-1.97)

Citigroup

32.925-0.735(-2.18)

IBM

192.42-0.71(-0.37)

Yahoo

16.14+0.14(+0.88)

Starbucks

48.82-0.38(-0.77)

Microsoft

30.495-0.275(-0.89)

Home Depot

45.33+0.06(+0.13)

DailyFinance Headlines

Benzinga Headlines

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

BioHealth Investor Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

DailyFinance BlackBerry App

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Page Loaded in 1329091783936 ms.