US Mint & Royal Canadian Mint are on allocation
While the precious metals are for the most part holding their ground today and hovering slightly below unchanged, the broader commodity complex, the euro, and US bourses are trading heavily. The European Central Bank left its key lending rate at .75% as expected, but bids are being hit after a very strong half year ascension for the euro. It is already having its biggest down day since June of 2012. US equities are also trading lower on the heels of a 2% drop in US productivity in the fourth quarter versus an expectation of a 1.3% decline. With US equities very impressive performance over the last month, precious metals have understandably not garnered as much attention over the same time period. It is interesting to note that while the precious metals stale price action reflects a disinterested market, physical demand in the US for bullion items remains robust. The US Mint and Royal Canadian Mint are on allocation for silver coins meaning that they have to restrict the amount of coins they can offer their distributors in a given week. Non-sovereign silver products remain tight as well with delays in certain products several weeks out. If equities start to make an extended turn south, I would expect precious metals to rally and domestic products could become even tighter.
