Friday will be the last day for August delivery. The next delivery month will be October.
Total gold in the COMEX warehouses remained steady at about 7 million ounces.
Without higher prices it does not seem realistic to expect those with their gold stored in the warehouses to move it to registered and to offer it for delivery.
As I have said, I do not expect the problems with gold and silver to reach a climactic resolution at the COMEX in the form of a default. That is more likely to be a secondary effect of a greater scandal or failure that will begin with the physical market, and probably overseas.
What will trigger this reckoning? Perhaps some large owner or even a central bank will not accept that their gold is missing as readily as the Bundesbank has done, with their gold apparently having been rehypothecated away for the profit of the private bullion banks.
Be that as it may, the leverage within the paper market is obviously at elevated levels, providing a risk factor that sets the bar for counterparty risk rather low. This could facilitate a rather energetic short squeeze at some point. I hear that at least one very significant market participant is positioned to benefit from such an eventuality.
Weighed, and found wanting.
Stand and deliver.
