Gold and Silver ETF Inventory Changes For 2013 - 942 Tonnes of Western Gold Gone

The drain of gold from the Western ETFs and Funds is apparent.  About 942 net tonnes have been removed.  This compares to the 856 tonnes that had been removed as of mid-December.   That is quite a bit of bullion moving out in just a few weeks.

But even more notably, this is in sharp contrast to silver, which has had about 992 net tonnes added.   On a percentage basis silver has had a worse price performance this year compared to gold, so ascribing this to investor preference seems a bit thin. 

This is certainly an interesting phenomenon.  It will be worth remembering I suspect.

There seems to be little question that the gold market is being manipulated by some big players.   And there is certainly quite a bit of precedent for this manipulation.  The bigger questions are the motives, and the course of the endgame, this time.   All manipulations end, eventually. 

As an aside, I would like to address a recurring pet peeve of mine.  The financial spokesmodels will often look at the drawdowns in the GLD inventory and say, 'investors were dumping gold today.'  

Where were they dumping it, into the ocean? 

All this gold, that no one seemingly wants, and yet the New York Fed cannot find enough bullion to return Germany's gold, and for seven years.  What about the gold they hold that no one has yet asked about?

No, the gold has been moving from the custody of GLD as Authorized Participants, aka the usual suspects, redeem bullion from the ETF, and send it elsewhere. 

Where does this all lead?  Follow the yellow brick road, or more appropriately, river.  Judging from the overall import and export numbers, it is quite the golden river, flowing from west to east

These figures are from 12/31/2012 through 12/30/2013 and are courtesy of Nick Laird at Sharelynx.com.