The economic anxiety fed with tariffs is pressing some Canadians to look for safe reflections to get out of the storm, and precious metal merchants say that it is driving a hurry to gold.
Tyler Whitmore, CEO of Canada Gold, who buys and sells gold in two ottawa locations and in other parts of the country, said the company has seen an increase in demand in its 16 locations.
“In general, we make an important order per month for gold bars and coins of our distributors, mainly the Royal Canadian mint. At this time we are making two orders per week,” he said. “The increase in the demand for physical ingots is significant in all our stores.”
He said that the jump in sales is on a scale similar to what the company saw during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. If it lasts, it could be even bigger.
“This could be the highest period of demand for physical ingots that we have seen in our history of the company over 15 years,” he said.
He attributes it to concerns about the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the impact of his threatened tariffs, which has led to the waters of the stock market. Whitmore said buyers are nervous about the Canadian dollar and the risk of recession.
“Canadians seek to invest in assets that generally work well during periods of uncertainty and turbulence of the market, and are turning to physical and silver physical assets that they can really hold in their hands,” he said.
In Spott Money, a gold dealership in Toronto, gold and silver sales rise approximately 25 percent compared to the same time last year. The company’s president, Larisa Spott, has witnessed “a great change in the physical gold market” that began when Trump was chosen in November.
“We have been seeing a lot of fear of the market, and generally when we see fear in the market, we see that people go to safe reflections,” he said. “The safe shelter is, of course, gold and silver to a lesser extent.”
Let’s make physical
It is certainly possible, and easy to enter the gold market without buying a piece of physical metal and save it at home. The funds quoted in the stock market (ETF) constitute a considerable part of the gold market, which allows customers to take action with the click of a button.
According to the World Gold Council, the ETF backed by Gold saw strong tickets last month, the highest since March 2022. Most of that increase came from North America, which registered the strongest tickets since July 2020.
But Spott said many customers want the comfort of physically sustaining metal in their hand. For some, it is the last safeguard against the risk that today’s instability becomes something much, much worse.
“For some of our clients, there is that concern, absolutely, that there could be some breakdown, bank accounts seizures. There could be some banks,” he said. “So definitely, I think something that makes our clients feel safe is: I have it at home.”
Anthony Herceg, managing director of Precious Metal Distribution for North America in TD Securities, has seen a two -digit increase in precious metal transactions in recent months. He said he began to increase after Christmas and has affected silver, platinum and especially gold.
Record prices do not deter buyers
With the gold prices in maximum records, Herceg said that customers begin to buy smaller amounts, fractions of an ounce instead of the standard unit of an ounce.
An ounce now costs around $ 4,400, after increasing almost 20 percent in just three months. That could be unaffordable for some small -scale investors.
“They still want to invest, so they invest what they can pay in,” he said.
Bart Melek, Chief of Global Public Strategy of TD Securities, said there are good reasons to think that gold prices will remain at record levels or move even more.
“If you are of the opinion that the Canadian dollar could weaken due to the instability caused by the rate … then gold would be a very good protector of your purchasing power, because if the Canadian dollar falls, its gold value in terms of Canadian dollars increases,” he said.
Of course, small -scale Canadian investors are not the main force behind those growing prices, which are established in international markets. Melek said that great institutional players have their own reasons to buy gold.
Some are exploiting price differences caused by tariff threats, buying gold abroad to sell it in the US market. The diminishing faith in the US dollar as a global reserve currency is also playing a role, pushing central banks to stock up bullshit.
But in many cases, the underlying forces are simple, and similar to those that lead common Canadians.
“The fear of inflation and tariffs are certainly playing a role in convincing people on the institutional side to consider gold as protection,” Melek said.
