Easy. The FED data is broken down into groups and subgroups, where as the Mint data is an aggregate total. So let's look at it on a one by one.
World Gold Council
gold.org
gold.org
This data is only up to the third quarter, and does NOT show a growing demand from last year, but an actual lowering of total demand. This while GOLD is actually dropping is not to be taken as a bullish sign. So in essence Gold may {should} continue to drop to find a bottom. One should look at a continued average, and not as broken quarters.
Mint.
usmint.gov
Yes the totals look inpressive, and if you take them at face value, they are. But it's not until you start looking at the 1 Oz coins numbers, divided by the 1/2 Oz coins numbers, and you'll see that there is a sharp change from 1997 {limited, but reliable} data to 1998's data. This does not suggest that people are going to the higher amounts as opposed to the lower; in fact the ratio changes abrubtly in Jan 1998. This suggest more instituional buying. And the question that arises is why?
Is this the Asian fiscal buying, or maybe European. Maybe there are reasons as to why there is this buying. BUT by no ways does this suggest that they is any excess demand. As even the WORLD GOLD Council shows that the US mint coins, and demand are divergent at the beginning of the year. But as Mint sales increase during the year, NO real increase occurs in demand. So what we actually see may be a transferring of Gold BARS into US mint coinage.
"Whereas supplies of gold for investments purposes are similar in nature to other financial investments often exempted from tax under the current rules of the sixth Directive, and therefore exemption from tax appears to be the most appropriate tax treatment for supplies of investment gold; Whereas the definition of investment gold should only comprise forms and weights of gold of very high purity as traded in the bullion markets and gold coins the value of which primarily reflects its gold price;"
#reply-7006549
Maybe someone wanted to change their gold format, into coins. |
