Stocks and Precious Metals Charts - The Fruits of Graft - Costco Selling One Ounce Gold Bars

 

“Trickle-down theory represents the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.”

John Kenneth Galbraith

"You should thank God the government saved the big banks and their investors. Now, if you talk about bailouts for everybody else, there comes a place where if you just start bailing out all the individuals instead of telling them to adapt, the culture dies. Suck it in and cope."

Charlie Munger, Christian Science Monitor, September 30, 2010

"Inequality is a euphemism for all the things that have gone to make the lives of the rich so much more delicious for the last three decades. And for the things that have made the lives of working people so wretched and so precarious.  You catch a glimpse of inequality every time you hear about someone that had to declare bankruptcy because a child got sick.  Inequality is about the way in which speculators, and even criminals, get a helping hand from Uncle Sam, while the Vietnam Vet down the street loses his house."

Thomas Frank, Listen Liberal

“Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction.  Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty."

Simone Weil

Today we had the expected 'gut punch' follow up to the recent precious metals option expiration on the Comex.

I would normally expect this to be about it, but since we are approaching the end of the third quarter we will have to wait and see if the big metal and miner shorts have used this opportunity to square up their books for quarter end.

The Dollar rallied and took the 106 handle and then some.

Stocks were punched down hard, but managed to rally into the close and finish unchanged to green.

What a surprise.

The government shutdown looms as the House continues in disarray.

But this reaction in the equity markets so far is mostly the usual end of quarter shenanigans.

And as a surprise in the news, national retailer Costco is now selling one ounce gold bars.   And they are selling out as fast as they can stock them.    Physical gold to go and a free lunch of tasty samples.   What will they think of next. 

There may be a flight to safety of sorts in the air.  Let's see what happens. 

As Cicero is said to have famously observed in his first oration against Cataline, 'O tempora, O mores.'

When he spoke in 63 BC his republic was failing as well.

Have a pleasant evening.

An Opportunity for Purveyors of Gold in London

Le Proprietaire has favored shopping at Harrod's at holiday time for many years, and finds the Food Halls to be a delight. One has to wonder if buying gold bars 'off the shelf' in size such as this indicates that there is a market to be made in London for lower scale purchases.

The Prechterian wave weenies may see anecdotal 'signs of a top' in this, but in general they have been chasing themselves silly throughout this entire multi-year bull market.

One has to wonder if the Harrod's card could be used for this type of purchase. Do they deliver the gold in their familiar green trucks? Perhaps at least provide a reinforced shopping bag for takeaway.

Ah, a ceramic post of Stilton and a box of cream crackers. Those were the days.


Harrods adds gold bars to its luxurious image

LONDON — Glittering bait for the well-heeled shopper: Harrods department store has added gold bars to its merchandise line.

The store announced Thursday that it has joined with Swiss refiner Produits Artistiques Metaux Precieux to offer gold bars weighing 27.5 pounds (12.5 kilograms). The move comes as gold prices have been going through the roof. On Wednesday, they hit another record high of $1,072 an ounce.

Based on Thursday's afternoon gold fixing price in New York, a gold bar would cost about $462,440. Customers can buy the gold through Harrods financial arm Harrods Bank, which is located in the central London's department store (didn't that used to be Lloyds? - Jesse)

"The financial environment has kindled a new demand for physical gold amongst private investors in Britain," said Chris Hall, head of Harrods Gold Bullion.

"Up until now, however, London has had no well-recognized name serving this market," he added.

Many investors believe it is currently safer to invest in gold than in stocks, property, or currencies.

"The fact that a company like Harrods is moving into the physical gold market is interesting ," said Adrian Ash, head of research at Bullionvault.com, the online gold trading company. "It shows gold is moving back into the mainstream, having spent two decades in the arena of cranks and gold bugs."

Mehdi Bakhordar, managing director of Produits Artistiques Metaux Precieux, said Harrods was the only location in London where investors could buy a 27.5 pound (12.5 kg) gold bar "off the shelf."