Two months ago, Goldman Sachs announced that it had entered into a $500 million agreement to acquire the Perth Mint Physical Gold Exchange Traded Fund (traded in US markets under the symbol AAAU).

With the potential for compromised ownership of the physical gold, the past guarantees of the Perth Mint and the government of Western Australia will no longer offer any recourse.

In a move in early November which is already causing controversy, self-styled gold market authority, the bullion-bank controlled London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), issued a letter to a group of leading bullion markets around the world, threatening to blacklist gold bullion from any country that fails to meet new LBMA recommendations covering gold sourcing and supply chains, the elimination of cash transactions, and the support for artisanal and small scale mining (ASM).

Thus with this new shift from a 3 month to a 1 month vault reporting lag, the COMEX-LBMA gold pool tag team can, with a bit of spin, hold up a copy of the FEMR report and claim that the London vaults have made a Herculean transparency effort, indeed one that has the blessing of regulators, and successfully ‘lobby’ for a COMEX rule change to allow the London vaults a derogation to only report to COMEX on a 1 month lagged basis instead of the daily end of day requirement of their New York brethren.

CME raises silver margins by 15.2%

Traders on CME Group’s (CME.O) Comex exchange in New York said on Thursday they would deliver 102 tonnes of gold to holders of expiring futures contracts, in the biggest one-day delivery on record.

Silver margins rise 11%

Reported gold holdings in COMEX approved vaults rocketed from 8.7 mn ozs to over 32 mn ozs between 24 March and 30 June

As part of its continuing effort to monitor and manage its suite of exchange traded notes, Credit Suisse AG has decided to delist the foregoing ETNs with a view to better align its product suite with its broader strategic growth plans.

UGLD - USLV - DGLD - DSLV

Word from behind closed doors at the Scotiabank, reveals the key market maker is set to withdraw completely from the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), and close its doors permanently by the end of the year.

The New York gold market has been flipped on its head in just a couple of months, with a scramble for the metal turning into a glut.