GOLD 00.00 1.20 0.00%
SILVER 00.00 1.20 0.00%

Metal Market Report January 2023 - Week 2 Edition

January 2023 – Week 2 Edition

Gold and Silver Rebound, Look Even Stronger in 2023

Gold and Silver both closed 2022 in positive territory after spending most of the year in the red. Their recovery is due to the dollar’s sharp decline since October, falling almost 10% in the fourth quarter. That pushed silver up nearly 5% for the year and gold up fractionally. In the same period, stocks fell sharply, with the S&P 500 down almost 20%, the Dow down almost 9% and the tech-heavy NASDAQ down a huge 33%.

Year-End Summary: Precious Metals Rally to “Victory” in the Fourth Quarter

Just like a football or basketball game where the favorite team lags for three quarters only to rally for a win, gold and silver rallied in the fourth quarter to take the lead and win the game at the buzzer.  For the full year, the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) gained 8%, but it was up over 16% through September 30. At one point it was up 26% in a 16.5-month surge from May 24, 2021, to October 10, 2022. Since then, however, the dollar index dropped almost 10 points from 113.3 to 103.5, pushing gold and silver to positive gains.

The only plus signs were in the U.S. dollar and three of four precious metals, which also means gold and silver were up in double digits in 2022 in many other currencies. For instance, gold would be up about 11% in the British pound (and the Japanese yen), and silver would be up about 4% more since the dollar disguised the strength of the precious metals in other currencies.

 

U.S. Mint Bullion Coin Sales Were Down Sharply in Late 2022, Despite Rising Prices

Despite the recently rising gold prices, only 4,000 ounces of the Gold American Eagle coins were sold in December (vs. 42,000 sold in December 2021) and no Gold American Buffalo coins were sold (vs. 10,500 sold last December).  There were 59,000 Silver American Eagles sold in December.

For the full year, Silver American Eagle sales were down 43.5%, and gold bullion coin U.S. Mint sales were down 13.3%.  Silver bullion prices were up 4.4% for the year but the Mint made Silver American Eagle sales difficult to negotiate and prohibitively expensive with delivery delays and super-high double-digit premiums of 40% or higher over spot prices. In pricing a variety of dealers, I saw wholesale prices of $33 to $35 per coin at $24 spot silver. There are far lower premiums available on other global mint silver products. Call your account representative for an array of available alternatives to Gold or Silver American Eagles, as I predict gold and silver will rise in 2023.

Later this month, I will report on how well our recommendations did in 2022 as many of our classic rare coins outperformed gold and silver.

Get to know the “Team Mike” Professionals at Universal Coin & Bullion
Working with Dr. Mike Fuljenz, America’s Gold Expert ® 

Forest Hamilton
Universal Coin & Bullion Assistant Director

Referrals are the greatest compliment you can give to me.

Forest Hamilton, an Assistant Director at Universal Coin & Bullion, has over 24 years in the numismatic industry and has worked with Universal Coin & Bullion for 16 years. 

Forest and the love of his life, Stormy, have three beautiful daughters and he enjoys spending as much time as possible with his family.  He has coached his daughters’ soccer teams from an early age and loves watching their dance and piano recitals.  Fishing with his dad and hiking with his mom in Washington and Oregon are two of his favorite things. 

He has coached youth soccer and baseball for many years, is an influence coach for Lamar University, is on the board of Beaumont Boys Haven and Pathway Church and truly enjoys being a consistently featured speaker for Fathers in the Field Ministry. 

Forest is proud that UCB has maintained an A+ rating with Better Business Bureau and that the company delivers award-winning industry materials to its customers.

He is a three-time Amazon.com Best-Selling Author and an award-winning speaker.  He is also one of America’s numismatic experts and has been featured in USA Today, CNBC, Yahoo! Finance and Market Watch Online, among others.  Forest was also on ABC’s Shark Tank.

Forest’s favorite coin is the $2 ½ Indian Head Quarter Eagle that was minted from 1908-1929.  He loves that it has a fully incused design, is an extremely completable set with only 15 coins total and is one of the most consistent cyclical investment coins in U.S. history. He said he appreciates their beauty, unique design, history and that many of them are included in UCB’s innovative 20/20 program. Forest also enjoys helping clients easily diversify their IRAs with the popular Gold American Eagle.  

Learn more from Forest by watching videos featuring him on UCB’s website.