1 week ago
3
On a weekday afternoon in February, Josh Morelock, the general manager of Gold Refinery of San Diego, scooped glinty gold objects from a bowl and placed them into smelter fired up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Gold rings, bracelets, coins, chains, heirlooms, now scrap. Whatever they had once meant, at that moment they were worth their weight in gold.
The refinery is very busy these days because of the high price of gold, sliver and other precious metals, which has people turning their metal to cash.
“We have seen a huge spike,” the owner, Carmine Mannino, said in a recent call, adding that he is seeing five times more clients a day compared to normal. “The transaction size is up way as well, because the gold and silver prices are higher.”
Gold’s price per ounce crossed $5,000 in January and was around $5,150 in late-February. Silver hit a record of around $120 an ounce in January and was around $88 in late February. Reasons for the price growth include inflation and purchases by central banks, as institutions and investors who hope gold offers security in the face of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
It may be a boom time for bullion, but navigating this market is fraught with risk. Merchants are aware that prices of metals could backtrack or keep jerking upward. Some businesses, merchants said, have had trouble offloading gold and silver to larger refineries, which are backed up, resulting in potential or real cash-flow challenges.
English (US) ·