Grant Williams at Mauldin Economics quotes a friend in Hong Kong in his latest article on gold:
I’ve been taking this opportunity to stock up on some yellow metal. Went to Hang Seng bullion counter yesterday. The line was out the door. It took an hour wait to see a teller. When I asked if people were buying in the dip or selling in panic, she told me that they haven’t had one ounce of gold sold back to them all day. She told me they have sold more gold in 24 hrs than they normally do in 3 months.
While the price in futures market has fallen sharply, physical sales of gold have surged.
Read more at Things That Make You Go Hmmmm..
Will be interesting to see if the scramble for physical translates into higher prices for the metals. Already we are seeing some support, now just need to see it turn into a sustainable rally…
Problem is that the retail market is not setup to take a heavy influx of buying. For the paper market volume is not an issue (billions can be moved around with the press of a button), but physical requires minting and distribution, both of which can be bottlenecks when an unexpected rush of buyers attempts to enter the market en masse.