For those who are interested:

"Goldman has taken delivery of some 473,600 ounces (half the gold in the New York Mercantile Exchange warehouses) as of Friday and we understand that Goldman is "in line" to take a good deal of the remaining 3500+ contracts that still remain open over the next two weeks. By taking in this gold, Goldman has taken 95% of the deliveries that have been posted for the August Comex contract. That is very unusual. When queried, Goldman's spokeswoman, Kate Baum, said, "We are seeing strong physical demand."

>From Bill Murphy, Le Metropole ***Rumour,buying for Buffett

-- Drken (Drken@bubble.gone), August 15, 1999

Answers

Drken:

Do you have a link?

Dr.I

-- Nelson Isada (isada@alaska.net), August 16, 1999.

Andy,

You better jump in here. So, Goldman, who was a strong player behind the Bank of England sale announcement is now *buying* gold. Imagine that! And they are getting it at the bottom price. Hang on folks, some real interesting card shuffling going on here. Perhaps they are trying to make a profit, perhaps they are just trying to stave off a collapse due to their previous gold lending exposure. We'll see. But, in the meantime this is a very important announcement, IMHO.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

Where's the link?

-- link please (linkplease@linkpleaze.com), August 16, 1999.

I was doing a little searching the web for some missing gold historical data, and read that Goldman has a lock on the physical Comex inventory, so one could assume that they are well onto the gold situation and will profit alot. I wouldn't be surprised that if you were a fly on the wall in there, you would hear the August 30th date bandied about. Apparently gold in london is non-deliverable.

Count on a hard down stock market this week. The weakest hands in over 5 decades are holding stocks and they are not going to drive this market higher - just the opposite. I don't even quite understand how the market could rally as much as it did Thursday and Friday,but I appreciated the opportunity on the close Friday - I guess it was to knock as many unconvinced shorts out of the market as possible and confuse short term day-traders, to miss the big down move coming up.

***The day of Reckoning is not far away.Again,fun is just beginning hold on to you're wigs,its gonna be a very wild ride.

This Wednesday should be interesting in the gold market.

-- Drken (Drken@bubble.com), August 16, 1999.

Don't forget, Goldman offered stock to the public for the first time months before the 1929 crash, only to buy it back later much cheaper. I believe it was late last year, (early this year?), they offered stock to the public again. Is this what they used to buy this gold? After this offering, one of the principles retired a very rich man, and is now considering running for Senate from New Jersey. I'm sure it's even much thicker than this. This is just of the top of my head...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 16, 1999.

Gold has been driven - illegaly I might add - down down down so the elite bastards can steal it fom under our noses.

My own F###ing country is even as we speak selling MY gold to these bastards.

We are all being set up here. This is an orchestrated coup d'etat.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

Drken - agree with you - what so special about Wednesday? - the day after the CPI announcement???

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

Drken,

Sorry, I should have said thank you for the post. This is very exciting news. When a huge seller, the BOE, announced it's intentions last May, the price of gold took a big dive. Now, we have a huge buyer, Goldman, moving into that market. Should be a very interesting time starting Monday morning. What will happen? What will that market do with this information? Well, as a friend of mine used to say, "Don't ask me, I'm just the piano player in this whorehouse". ;-)

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

Link

Gold quiet in Europe, eyes U.S. option expiries

07:04 a.m. Aug 13, 1999 Eastern

LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Gold traded sideways during early European business on Friday with dealers eyeing possible gains later linked to the day's expiry in New York COMEX options.

London gold fixed at $260.70 a troy ounce in the morning, 40 cents up on Thursday afternoon's level, as spot meandered near Thursday's New York close of $260.60/$261.10.

Friday's expiry in COMEX options on the little traded October contract could be more important than normal given unusually high levels of open interest, dealers said.

Call options at $265.00 in October gold equated to $263.00 on the spot market, a resistance level which would trigger significant short covering if breached.

``$263.00 is a very big number. We tend to think it won't get through it,'' said one London dealer.

Thursday's break of $260.00 took gold to levels last seen July 6, when the Bank of England's auction of 25 tonnes from reserves sent spot prices to 20-year lows.

Goldman Sachs and Co. said overnight its recent gold futures buying did not reflect any unusual activity for the firm.

Publicly available data from COMEX indicated the investment bank had apparently amassed about 15 tonnes of gold in August, owning half the gold stocks in exchange warehouses.

Gold's recovery from last month's 20-year lows was likely to dampen physical demand in Asia, which had recently showed signs of strength, regional dealers said.

``If the price continues to rise, we will see a slackening in physical demand,'' a bullion trader in Singapore said.

In addition, the region was entering the normally slow August-October period, he said.

On silver, the COMEX options expiry on the active September futures contract could spark a sharp price move either way.

``There's fairly decent open interest in the $5.50 and $5.25 strikes and we are sitting right in the middle. I can't believe it's going to sit here,'' one dealer said.

U.S. commitments of traders data for gold and silver, which could shed light both on the extent of short-covering in gold and the recent fund buying spree seen in silver, were also due out later on Friday.

Spot silver was last little moved versus New York's Thursday close of $5.34/$5.37.

Platinum was $1.00 down at $350.00/$352.00 and palladium $3.00 down at $338.00/$343.00.

-- (M@rket.watching), August 16, 1999.

Link http://lemetropolecafe.com/ need membership

just checked bbs gold Snagged this from Kitco gold bbs "The reason gold lease rates are climbing has to do w/ the growing risk to the financial banks. The simple KEY to understanding this is that banks borrow the gold for short periods and lend it for long periods. The CBs are aware of the growing risk of not getting back their gold and are winding down their leasing. Some of the producers have been having problems repaying their loans and their books are looking bad. There are several banks that are in hot water I write. These banks unlike the commercials will not be bailed out by the CBs. One of my sources told me two weeks ago, that a BIG bullion bank is currently in trouble with liquidity problems and is trying to cut a deal with several major producers to borrow in excess of 55 tons to return to the CB lender. This loan would be over a period of approx. 5 years depending on the gold price. It gets worse. As I said several months ago, there are MORE hedge funds similar to LTCM and the Tiger Fund that are currently have liquidity problems. I posted this bit about liquidity problems some time ago. This particular BIG bullion bank in BIG finacial trouble has lent out in excess of 425 tons of gold to SEVERAL of these hedge funds. Of course the hedge funds can not come up with the gold, thus the growing crisis.

Yes, gold lease rates are up for a reason. And Goldman Sachs is NOT buying gold to short it. A coming liquidity crisis is coming and they know about! " http://www.kitcomm.com/cgi-bin/comments/gold/display_short.cgi#start

Its all over gold bbs,its official

-- Drken (Drken@bubble.gone), August 16, 1999.

Okay, but my question is, say the price of gold shoots up to $800 an ounce, say, by December, what can you do with your physical gold? Really, nothing. Because if you change the gold for the money, what will you do with the money? The gold has to be kept until down the road apiece when you know what is happening with money--if anything. Right?

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

Not only that (speculating that it does go to $800 oz. highly unlikely), you wouold still have to pay capital gains tax on it. When you purchase gold, it is to preserve wealth, a long term investment. As things tighten up, people will not be able to afford to purchase gold. I forsee things to happen quickly and it will catch people unaware. Wealth will be lost in a blink of an eye. Those who have some gold may not be diversified enough to hold onto it. If you are out of debt, have cash available for speculation go for it. Otherwise, have cash and durable goods stored.

-- JMHO II (JMHOII@JMHOII.com), August 16, 1999.

"Okay, but my question is, say the price of gold shoots up to $800 an ounce, say, by December, what can you do with your physical gold? Really, nothing. Because if you change the gold for the money, what will you do with the money? The gold has to be kept until down the road apiece when you know what is happening with money--if anything. Right? "

Mara, first get out of any populated cities.spend cash on a good home with lots of supplies.After change rest of cash gold bullion 1 ounce (must never forget to purchase puts..insurance) good for bartering,when paper not accepted.Hopefully this mess will clear up in 10 years.You will still have a value of wealth.

-- Drken (Drken@bubble.gone), August 16, 1999.

I hope MONEX is not about to take a shit.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

Andy, explain your concern about MONEX please.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

I've bought some gold via their Atlas account - paid 20% down at about $260 an ounce, won't be able to afford to take physical delivery for a coupla months :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

Link

* Goldman, Sachs & Co. has amassed $124 million of gold bullion, saying it expects demand to improve in the months ahead. Goldman has taken control of half the gold in New York Mercantile Exchange warehouses, according to the exchange records. Goldman described the transactions as normal business activity, though some traders speculate that a shortage may be developing. Goldman turned more positive on the gold market in late July amid expectations that reduced mine output will lead to higher prices.

-- (M@rket.watching), August 16, 1999.

Article in this mornings London Financial Times...

CENTRAL BANKS CRITICISE UK DECISION TO SELL GOLD

By Christopher Adams, FT Economics Staff

Central Banks of the world's leading economies have warned the Bank of England that the UK's decision to sell official gold reserves may put them under pressure to do the same. Central bankers in the G10 group of nations, which include some of the world's biggest gold holders, have told officials of the UK's central bank during talks in Basle, Switzerland, that the sale could cause instability in the gold market.

The banks fear that further falls in the gold price could lead to wider debate about the value of holding gold as an asset, compelling them to review their own reserve policies. Although gold has long been regarded by central banks as a hedge against inflation and a symbol of monetary stability, growing importance is now attached to increasing the return that reserves earn.

A long-term decline in the price of gold has undermined the case for holding large quantities.

Criticism by the world's central banks of the UK sale reflects their unease at the impact of the disposal, which was unusual for being announced in advance and conducted in a series of public auctions. The price of gold has see-sawed wildly ... ( really ???...dabchick ) ... in recent weeks, plunging at the end of last month to its lowest level in 20 years.

The banks are concerned that the sale may be significant and lasting because of the leadership role traditionally played by Britain, and the historical links between the BoE and the London bullion karket. The disposal could create uncertainty about the intentions of other first dividion gold holders, depressing the gold price more. The UK, which is to sell more than half its #4.1bn gold reserves in the next few years and replace them with foreign currency assets, is not alone in wanting to reduce its holdings. Switzerland has signalled its willingness to dispose of 1,300 tonnes of gold. However, other nations, including Germany,France, Italy and the US, have so far shown no inclination to sell. "The principal holders of gold would rather not sell and do not want to see the issue raised to the point of public debate" said a central bank official.......END

The above article has appeared prominently on the front page, centrebottom of this morning's FT. It is accompanied by a chart of the gold price since Aug 98, scaled to emphasise the fall from $300 to $250.

It is supported on page 6 by a one-third page article, also by Christopher Adams which suggests the rumoured difference of opinion between Eddie George and Gordon Brown.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

And the game goes on...

They're still forcing the price down further...

Another buying opportunity folks!!!

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

The way you profit from this is not to buy gold, buy the mines. At current prices they are at about break even and are cheap. At $500 per ounce some of these mines will be worth 25 to 40 times what they sell for now. Buy Durban Deep (DROOY South Africa), Harmony(HGMCY Aust.) and Franco-Nevada (Canade Toranto Exchange).

-- rambo (rambo@thewoods.com), August 16, 1999.

Good advice Rambo - however, do you know if these mines are hedged big time?

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

Also - from a guy in Germany... hot off the press this am CMT...

Date: Mon Aug 16 1999 08:14 Josef (F.T. article about central bank sales) ID#238188: It is a part of international propaganda action against rising gold market. Similar article was published in German Die Welt from last Saturday.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

rambo

what about Agnico Eagle in Ontario - AEM - know anything about 'em? I know they are not hedged...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

For those who don't wish to buy individual stocks, look into a precious metals mutual fund, such as Fidelity or Vanguard, the 2 biggest in the US market place. While the metals funds took a small hit back in May after the BoE sale announcement, they have been moving back up nicely lately, in spite of gold selling at $260 oz +/-. This tells me that buyer interest in the mining stocks is increasing, which I would expect to happen, with anyone currently aware of the world financial situation in general, and Y2k in particular.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

Drken,

I agree with your summation. Gold is for barter to survive and long- term capital preservation. No need to get excited about what prices will be for a while. It might be fun if they go up, but it's irrelvant. Some cash, consumer items, and some gold to diversify a Treasuries portfolio. As to buying gold mining stocks, or paper stocks of any kind, in a worst-case situation, you are better off with physical resources. The Treasuries I have are mostly the 10-year inflation adjusted bills. Most are on a TreasuryDirect account. I'm about as hedged as possible, given that I'm not George Soros.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

If massive amounts of gold are dumped into the free market, which would drive the price down even further, wouldn't gold mines shut down because it would no longer be cost effective to remain open? So investing in gold mines may not be the way to go. If I were to invest in gold, I would take physical possession of it.

-- JMHO II (JMHOII@JHMOII.com), August 16, 1999.

JMHOII,

Yes, taking physical possession is the thing, and that is what I expect to see happen in larger and larger amounts in the near future. I don't see dumping, I see hoarding of gold, as individuals and governments start to become concerned about the financial system. Up till now, or during the last few years, gold trading has been a game, for the most part, not a way of increasing stockpiles. That will change as soon as any valid financial scare goes through the system.

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), August 16, 1999.

Mara,

Soros just lost $700m betting on the internet stocks to tank in the spring - didn't happen. he also lost another huge bundle on the Euro :)

heh heh heh

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 16, 1999.

Whoever it was that said the Dow would tank this week is probably wrong. It would have tanked if the CPI numbers had not been cooked last Friday. The PPI numbers that are coming out tomorrow will be cooked as well. They need to keep this game going as long as possible in order to save face.

The PM's will explode after they have taken posssession of all they can. Only then will they allow the runup. I am heavily invested in all forms waiting for them to let it go. They will, and hopefully all people here that can get on the train will realize a once in a lifetime explosion of their own personal wealth as the polyannas go bankrupt.

P.S. Listen to Andy. He really does see the whole picture on this.

-- Y2K Professional (Y2KProfessional@aol.com), August 16, 1999.