Wilmingtonsilver
Hero Member
OK TreasurePirate since you asked, my opinion is that someone (meaning a person, company or maybe country?) wanted/needed a large amount of physical gold and wanted it at a discount to the prices that existed even 6 months ago.
This "person" used the various world paper markets to "manipulate" the price of gold lower so as to get a better price on the physical they were buying at the same time. Not only did they make money on the short paper plays, they were able to buy tons of gold at a good price relative to prices over the past couple of years.
By "manipulate" I mean using the rules as they exist to push a price in either direction by initiating huge positions in any desired direction due to having bottomless pockets and playing in a market that allows such trades. In this case, said "person" was basically naked short selling PMs in amounts that would equal years' worth of production via trades taking place over a relatively short time.
I don't have links, but I have seen charts and articles over the past weeks showing the amount of physical gold leaving warehouses here in the US (from Comex and GLD, etc) and the amount is very huge. That gold is going some place and I don't think it is to make one ounce coins for collectors (except maybe a fraction of it).
I don't believe that this gold is being bought up by a bunch of small investors or even hedge funds, but instead is going to very large and strong hands somewhere in the world where it is going to stay for a while. I don't know why they want all that gold (besides the reasons us PM bugs always have) or their possible motives.
I don't simply believe the recent stockpile decline as mentioned above is bargain hunters taking advantage of cheap prices, although there is no doubt that a lot of PMs have been purchased by average Joe PM bugs large and small since the recent price declines. But the tonnage being moved now in gold makes retail bullion sales numbers seem like a drop in the bucket from what I have read.
The one fact that appears indisputable is that huge amounts of physical gold are being bought up and shipped out in large amounts over the past 7 months or so. To where and to whom I don't know. But whomever they are they have lots of money and like to stack.
All just my opinion.
Here is a link or two I found
Interactive Chart - COMEX WAREHOUSES ELIGIBLE - GOLD -
this one is a bit dated:
Chart of the Week ? GLD Metal Holdings - Got Gold Report
PS TreasurePirate or anyone feel free to make counter arguments all you want, just throw in a fact or two if possible.
Jim
Reading this made one question come to mind. Has the US paid all of it's gold back to Germany yet?