Gold Flows From Britain to Switzerland

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Britain's gold exports to Switzerland surged in the first half of this year, Australian bank Macquarie said on Monday, suggesting bullion being sold out of exchange-traded funds may be heading for Swiss refineries before being sold on in Asia.  LINK...

Gold and the Weight of Paper Chains

Will gold finally break FREE of the paper chains holding it back? It seems to me that the physical demand for gold bullion is starting to show its true power and natural safe haven characteristics. You will never get "Bailed-In" if you hold physical gold. Ask yourself why Central Banks even have vaults with gold reserves in the first place? You really think banks build expensive vaults as a novelty? Come on folks, see the forest through the trees. Continue accumulating and gold bullion will not let you down. This has been proven time and time again throughout history. Besides, you would be doing yourself and your country a favour because, "he who holds the gold, makes the rules." 

The bottom might not be in yet, but surely we are very close? Dollar cost averaging has been the best strategy over the long run. Take advantage of this golden discount and increase your holdings a little more.  BK

Mint Finds People Really Want Gold, Not ETR's

Gold Maple sales up 123% since same time last year.   LINK...
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The saying goes, "he who holds the Gold, makes the rules," and surely the author of this quote meant gold bullion, not paper gold.  BK 

Sprott's John Embry on the Gold Market

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip900741

Silver: The Element of Change (Video)

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With all these positive fundamentals for silver, it is still way below its 1980 high of $50/oz, while all other precious metals and base metals are above their 1980 high. Those who think that we're at the end of this bull run in precious metals are going to have a rude awakening. Maybe not this year, but certainly in the years ahead.   BK

Get Physical Before It's Too Late

ETF “Costs and Liabilities” Sees Investors Migrating to Physical Allocated Gold
 From www.goldseek.com

The head of industrial and precious metals trading at Barclays, Cengiz Belentepe, has told Bloomberg that investors are selling their investments in gold ETFs and opting for the safety of allocated physical gold.
According to Barclays, gold holdings in ETF products are growing at a slower pace than in 2004-2009 because some investors may be moving to physical bullion after initial purchases of an ETF.
Gold holdings in ETPs have increased 9.6% this year to a record 2,582.98 metric tons, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They rose 7.9% last year and 19% in 2010. Growth in gold ETP holdings has exceeded 35% from 2004 to 2009, the data show.
Barlcay’s Belentepe said “the question is whether the pace of buying has slowed, or whether the people have become a bit more sophisticated in recognizing the costs and liabilities.”
‘‘We’ve seen instances of people coming in, whose first step is to buy an ETF, second step is to get educated on how the market works, third step -- I’m going to shift this in direct gold purchase and storage, fourth step -- let me allocate this metal into these locations. It’s the early step they are all migrating through, expressing the same view but in different ways.”    LINK...
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Physical gold stored outside the banking system and fully insured with our "U-Vault Account." Your gold is allocated, segregated, sealed and unemcumbered with a global vault services company with 50 years experience. Call for details.   BK

CME Europe Accepts Gold Collateral

Bloomberg
By Nandini Sukumar and Nicholas Larkin - Aug 17, 2012 8:41 AM ET

CME Clearing Europe will accept physical gold as collateral, extending the list of assets it’s prepared to receive as regulators globally push more derivatives trading through clearing houses.
CME Group Inc. (CME)’s European clearing house, based in London, appointed Deutsche Bank AG (DBK), HSBC Holdings Plc and JPMorgan Chase& Co. as gold depositaries. There will be a 15 percent charge on the market value of gold deposits and a limit of $200 million or 20 percent of the overall initial margin requirement per clearing member based on whichever is lower, Andrew Lamb, chief executive officer of CME Clearing Europe, said today.   LINK...
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More evidence of the "Red Carpet Theory" becoming a reality. Create your own "Gold Central Bank" with our U-Vault Account today.   BK

Tom Stevenson: ETFs have potential to become the next toxic scandal

Back in April, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international super-regulator, wrote a prescient if less than catchily-titled paper "Potential financial stability issues arising from recent trends in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)".
Its central warning – that ETFs are not the cheap and transparent vehicles the marketers would have us believe – was spot on. When UBS’s $2bn black hole hit the screens on Thursday, no one who read the FSB report was surprised to see the words ETF and rogue trader in the same sentence.
The past ten years have seen an explosion in the popularity of ETFs. In part this reflects some of their acknowledged benefits – relatively low costs and the ability for investors to trade them throughout the day. A third claim, that ETFs are simple products, may once have been true but it no longer holds water. Many of these funds are now fiendishly complicated and way beyond the comprehension of the individual investors and professionals alike who are buying them.
Here are just a few of the reasons why ETFs are not all they are cracked up to be.   LINK...