(Bloomberg) — Americans who once snapped up gold bars and coins are offloading the assets while their Asian counterparts show no letup in bullion buying, a sign investors on opposite sides of the world have different outlooks on the global economy.
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The divergence suggests US residents who stash bars and coins at home or in safe deposit boxes — akin to stock market day traders — are more at ease about US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, rising government debt and geopolitical tensions. And, they’re ready to cash in after the metal’s stunning rally over the past two years.
Known as retail investors, these Americans are bucking broader market trends in which more wealthy investors continue to aggressively buy the haven asset as do sovereign funds and central banks. Meanwhile, Asian gold buyers are eschewing jewelry for bars and coins.
In the US, “A lot of the retail investors tend to be Republican-leaning. And whatever we say about the policy of tariffs, they like the idea of how Trump’s doing,” said Philip Newman, managing director at research consultancy Metals Focus Ltd. “So from their point of view, there’s less reason to buy gold.”
The US market is so awash with bars and coins that some precious metals dealers have slashed their premiums to the lowest in six years to spur sales. And when investors sell, they’re now looking at paying dealers a fee to offload gold.
Bullion dealer Money Metals Exchange LLC currently charges buyers of one-ounce American Eagle gold coins $20 over spot prices, compared with $175 four years ago. And sellers now need to pay about $20 for the online exchange to take the metal, whereas in 2021 they would have received an extra $121 for selling.
The glut has led to a collapse in sales of newly minted bullion products, with the US Mint’s American Eagle gold coins — a proxy for retail demand — tumbling more than 70% in May from the prior year.
The demand for gold bars and coins has been falling for the past three years in North America and Western Europe while rising everywhere else in the world, with last year marking the biggest divergence on record in data going back to 2014, according to Metals Focus. That gap continued into the first quarter of 2025, driven predominately by the selloff in the US market, according to the consultancy.
