"Panicking German dealers" on a "Gold Rush Frenzy"
Over the past few days multiple sources are reporting that German banks are getting cleaned out of their gold bullion supplies. They are being forced to seek additional stock outside of Europe, in particular from South Africa and its popular krugerrand coins.
From the Financial Times’ coverage of “Germans lead gold rush frenzy”…
“Panicking German dealers and banks have been desperate to get their hands on krugerrands, the world’s most popular gold coin.
“‘We have some extraordinary sales to German customers,’ says Deborah Thomson, the Rand treasurer. The refinery, which usually sells 2,000 coins to each customer at a time, says that last week it received an order from one German bank for 30,000 coins. Another bank requested 15,000 coins.”
These increased sales are taking place even as gold has exceeded the €1,000 price level for the first time in the history of the European currency… it’s not exactly getting in on the ground floor.
According to BND.com:
“Some analysts are even anticipating that gold will hit $1,400 in the near future – a far cry from two years ago when $1,000 for an ounce was considered as realistic as finding the lost city of El Dorado.
“‘We’re going to see some explosive movement in gold,’ said John March, chief technical officer for gold trading firm Superior Gold Group in Santa Monica, Calif. ‘We’re looking at something that doesn’t have a lot pushing it down but a lot pushing it up.’
“Over the next eight years, March expects to see an average annual boost of 20 percent to 25 percent in the price of gold.”
How gold moves from its current perch is the subject of great debate. It’s risen quickly and steadily and the most conservative option would be to wait for a pullback. At the same time, the global fiat currency presses are working at full steam. The long run case for gold still looks attractive. Regardless of what happens in the short run, gold is making for a fascinating parallel story to the fluctuating euro. It’s one we’ll watch closely.
Best,
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