Barry Stuppler

Last week the U.S. Mint announced that it had run out of its initial production of 2013 Silver Eagles and that new shipments would not be available until late January. At that point, sales are expected to be resumed under an allocation process. The Mint has used an allocation process to ration available supplies amongst their primary distributors in the past, as opposed to allowing the distributors to buy as many as they want or need . . . .

Sterling silver jewelry sales continued their strong performance during the recent Holiday Season, according to industry observers and early retail sales surveys. Retailers across the country reported . . . .

Late yesterday, the United States Mint informed authorized purchasers that the 2013 American Silver Eagle bullion coins had temporarily sold out. This comes only ten days after the coins were initially made available for ordering and following a three week period of unavailability due to the early sell out of the 2012-dated coins.

Sales of the 2013 Silver Eagle bullion coins will remain suspended until the Mint can build up an inventory of the coins . . . .

If Gold is able to firm up here and now then it has a good shot to rally back to $1750-$1800 over the next few months. If we get the bullish scenario and a fundamental catalyst shift then expect Gold to break past $1800 in Q3. That would mean that Gold consolidated for two years which would be its longest consolidation on record. The longer the consolidation, the more explosive the breakout . . . .