By Yvonne Yue Li | Bloomberg
Gold’s breathtaking surge this year to repeated record highs hasn’t stopped bullion from flying off shelves at Costco Wholesale Corp. stores across the US.
Costco’s one-stop shopping convenience is bringing gold buying to the masses by offering prices that undercut traditional precious metals dealers and extra rewards for its most loyal customers. Add to that gold’s appeal as a safe haven and hedge against inflation, and it’s easy to see why bullion buyers are turning to the warehouse retailer.
“It’s a great experience overall,” said Sourav Sethia, a 33-year-old analytics engineer from New Jersey. “I get calls from Costco whenever gold bars arrive as I am a previous buyer. So whenever I see the price has pulled back, I rush to Costco to buy one.”
Sethia visited his local Costco with his parents on Sept. 28 while the store was promoting one ounce gold bars stamped to mark the Indian festival Diwali. A Costco greeter clutching a laminated paper sheet advertising the item was directing shoppers to the center of the store, where the gold is displayed in a glass case. A small sign showed the price — $2,699.99. While Sethia didn’t buy this time, he did purchase two bars at this location in the past four months to guard against inflation.
Sethia’s experience is reflective of a larger trend that’s driving shoppers to seek out gold at the big-box store even as prices of the precious metal hit all-time highs. While the retailer doesn’t disclose much about its gold sales, a Bloomberg survey revealed how hard it is for the company to keep shelves stocked with the precious metal. About 77% of surveyed Costco outlets that stock bullion bars were sold out in the first week of October, based on calls to 101 stores in 46 states — all the stores surveyed had received fresh stock of the gold products in recent weeks.
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Spot gold has jumped nearly 30% this year, successively hitting record highs. Its ferocious rally makes it not only one of the best-performing commodities, but also means that metal has outperformed US equities and bonds. The surge has been driven by its appeal as a haven asset in times of geopolitical and economic uncertainty and its role as diversification play to safeguard wealth. It surpassed $2,600 an ounce last month, bolstered by the Federal Reserve’s shift to interest-rate cuts. Non-yielding gold tends to rise in a low-rate environment.
A flurry of buying from Costco is happening amid signs elsewhere that cash-strapped Americans are cashing in on gold’s rally. New York’s pawn shops and jewelers have seen a flood of sellers. Sales of American Eagle gold coins — a proxy for retail buying — tumbled 64% in the January-September period from a year earlier, according to US Mint data.
Costco is the “one bright spot” in the consumer gold-buying market, said Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at Geneva-based MKS PAMP SA.
“There’s a whole new cohort of retail buyers,” she said. “We …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
