lease rates exploded recently http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/2008/10/08/borrowing-gold.aspx
I personally do not trust the true inventories backing various "paper" gold instruments......I went all physical many months ago.
If you pay the full price to take delivery on your long gold contracts the gold in the warehouses is available to you or anyone else. Obviously, some of the gold in COMEX approved warehouses is held by industrial users and investors and not for sale. There are also other non-COMEX approved warehouses that hold stores of gold. The warehouse data is as of 10/07/08. Do you have some reason to believe that the COMEX approved warehouses lie to the COMEX about how much gold they have?
"More likely, it is a combination of a physical shortage of gold, along with those who hold long positions allocating it to ensure that it can be recovered if the bank that holds it fails, he added." This is the same reasoning that I am in all physical gold for my gold position.....I have NO trust in any of the institutions which broker "paper" gold trading.
Yes I do......just my opinion based on some gold brokers I pay attention to. Also, it has a lot to do with those who CONTROL the availability for delivery.......if a mass of "paper" holders all want their gold after some significant "event", will they actually be able to get their hands on it???
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7657178.stm Now thats proper Global Macro trading, better than what those 2+20 hedge fund idiots charge !
I don't know why people think it is so hard to get gold. I have used these guys in the past.. and never seem to "sell out." But I can't seem to get my hands on any platinum right now. http://www.bulliondirect.com/catalog/selectProducts.do?cat=Bullion_Gold&category=3 http://www.bulliondirect.com/nucleo/showProducts.do?cat=Gold_Bullion&category=3