COMEX Deliverable Gold Bullion Has Plunged By 78% in 2013 - Claims Per Ounce Highest On Record

[unhappycamper]

http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2013/09/comex-deliverable-gold-bullion-has.html

COMEX Deliverable Gold Bullion Has Plunged By 78% in 2013 - Claims Per Ounce Highest On Record
13 September 2013

The last time that the claims per ounce were nearly this high was in the late 1990's. At that time the central banks had to intervene to keep one or more bullion banks from faltering. It occurred during a period of coordinated bullion selling from the central banks into the market under the Washington Agreement, culminating in the notorious gold dumping known as Brown's Bottom. At least the Germans still have a receipt. That selling failed to hold the line, and shortly thereafter gold began its great bull market run.

~snip~

But given that the banks became net buyers of gold around 2008, as shown in the third chart below, it does not seem likely that the Bank of England or the western central banks will sell bullion into the market to save the overleveraged speculators again.

Recently the Federal Reserve was unable to comply with a request from the Deutsche Bundesbank to return the German national gold which had been held in custody in New York. The vault seems to be a bit on the thin side in general. I am sure all the gold is there, it is just that we live in an age in which multiples of rehypothecation for our financial assets held in trust are de rigeur. All the finest financiers are doing it without fear or regret, even when it occasionally decimates their customer accounts or shakes the global economy to its foundations.

Also included below is a peek at the registered inventories of all the COMEX warehouses. Some of the declines are impressive. What a remarkable coincidence.




(More graphs at link.)

[hlthe2b]

1. So explain that to me like a two year old.... preferably in two or three short sentences...

Please-- as I am admittedly too lazy to study it and read through to get to the bottom line....

Thank you in advnce.

[unhappycamper]

2. ...

The price of gold is dropping.

The US did not (or could) not cough up the gold to return to _______ when asked.

Do we really have gold in our storage facilities?

[hlthe2b]

3. So gold prices have been yet another bubble, soon to pop...

[Demeter]

4. I don't think the price of gold will pop

I think a lot of people are going to find they have been robbed of their savings. They or their financial advisors bought "paper" gold, not the real thing. And that paper is backed by nothing, because the bullion banks sold one ounce of gold several times.

The banks will go bust, the investors will go bust. And we will have the REAL Depression, of which 2008 was just a warm-up.

[unhappycamper]

5. Most unfortunately, I agree with you.

[roamer65]

7. Very possible.

Because they have taken the fractional reserve idea way too far and have zero chance now to cover a major run.

We had to go off the gold standard in 1933 for precisely the same reason. It had become a fractional reserve system and the impending run was going to drain the Treasury.

[OnlinePoker]

6. It will probably turn out to be the opposite

Less physical gold available to satisfy the demand...price will go up.