April 6, 2020 – Gold and silver prices finished last week slightly lower. Despite the promise of $6 trillion in fiscal and monetary stimulus, the U.S. dollar bounced off of recent lows and rallied. The DXY index closed back above 100 on Friday.

Demand for physical coins, rounds, and bars remains extraordinarily high. Bargain hunters are still looking to take advantage of spot silver prices below $15. And buyers looking for bullion as a safe haven continue pouring into the market.

The huge influx of buyers coupled with the disappearance of sellers is contributing to a shortage of retail bullion products.

So is the COVID-19 related closure of major mints and refiners such as the Royal Canadian Mint, PAMP, and now the U.S. Mint, where a security guard tested positive for the virus. Officials there decided to shut operations down temporarily and thankfully reopened quickly.

Bid and ask premiums were back on the rise last week – particularly for U.S. Mint products such as American Eagle coins.

More turmoil in the financial markets is expected, which should drive additional demand in the precious metals markets – at least for physical bullion.

The equity markets closed lower last week, giving back some of the prior week’s sharp gains. But the selling in stocks could have been worse. Markets held up better than expected given news that more than 6 million new unemployment claims were filed.



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