(Bloomberg) -- The clamor for retail investors to get hold of precious-metals coins is about to get more urgent.
The U.S. Mint said Wednesday it’s temporally halting production at its West Point facility in New York because of the risk to employees from the coronavirus. The site makes gold, silver, platinum and palladium coins which are sold through a network of distributors.The shutdown comes as convulsive swings in financial markets spur a surge in demand among retail investors for precious metals as haven assets. Last month, the Mint said it sold out of American Eagle silver coins, while the gold coins it offers were snapped up in March at the fastest pace in over three years.
“The timing is awful,” said Everett Millman, a precious-metals specialist at Gainesville Coins in Florida. “It’s going to exacerbate the supply shortage” in the coin market when demand is soaring.
Premiums for gold coins are at 5%-10% over spot gold, compared with less than 1% in normal circumstances, said Millman. Gold for immediate delivery slipped 0.4% to $1,720.89 an ounce at 3:51 p.m. in New York.
The jump in coin sales, along with a record high this week for holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by gold, suggests buyers are seeking physical metal amid the turbulence in equities.
(Updates with gold prices in fifth paragraph)
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