Germans Stockpiling Gold Amid Market Panic

German gold dealers have stopped taking new orders for the precious metal as demand has skyrocketed. Gold is seen as a safe investment during the market turmoil.

In uncertain economic times, Germans are dumping stocks and shares to take refuge in precious metal, accoring to a Wednesday article in a Berlin newspaper.

German gold dealers report running low on stocks of gold bars and coins.

Heiko Ganss, head of the Berlin branch of gold merchant Pro Aurum, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that most gold traders were refusing new orders, as they couldn't meet the current demand.

"Demand is running well above our capacity to supply," he was quoted saying, saying retail banks in Germany were also unable to meet demand.

"Exploding demand"

Gold traded in London at $913 (656 euros) per troy ounce on Wednesday morning, up from $876.75 late Tuesday.

"Demand has exploded in the past few days," said Stephan Henkel, a gold broker at Umicore, which presses gold bars and coins and puts them on sale. Delivery times were running at two to four weeks.

"Currently, demand is about 10 times what it is at normal times," he said.

AuthorDW staff (th)

©

Deutsche WelleThis input is very disturbing…

Dear Mr. Murphy!
As operator of the gold website www.hartgeld.com today I received several messages that the European Union now wants to go after gold. They fear that a massive run into gold cannot be controlled in any other way.

There are several rumors in banker circles:

Rumor 1 (from a high-ranking banker in Germany)

If the current last ditch system rescue fails and there is a massive stock market crash happens tomorrow Friday, severe limitations will be implemented EU-wide over the weekend:

• the sale and ownership of gold will be prohibited
• withdrawals from accounts will be limited, companies will need to prove the purpose of transfers
• even if this doesn't happen now, planning is underway
  
  Rumor 2 (a former banker with excellent contacts:

http://www.mmnews.de/index.php/20081... )

- There is a directive to banks to not any longer sell gold to the public
- Also there are efforts to reduce the amount of gold and silver which goes into the retail market to lessen the strain on the 400oz bullion bar market in London - this one determines the price. In this way they decouple demand from the price finding mechanism.

The system is now on its last legs on both sides of the Atlantic. More desperate measures are on the way as it looks. But according to Richard Russell: inflate or die. If rumor 1 becomes reality next week, it will be definitely "die" for the elites, because there will be a general uprising.

There is almost no gold available here in Europe. In Germany now banks decline sales (because they have no supply or because of this directive, I don't know). But here in Austria, gold is still available from some banks, although the quantities are limited. There is also a massive run on banks for cash everywhere, even central bankers admit it.

Probably this is of interest to your readers of Midas.

Best Regards from Vienna, Austria
Walter K. Eichelburg

!!!!! This addendum in late this afternoon:

Dear Mr. Murphy!
I've just learned that most German banks no longer sell gold - the sales ban is now active. Prospective customers hear: we do not sell gold any longer, etc. But not: we cannot procure it. Because this new regulation is of course secret, not all banks know about or comply.
There are some signs that Swiss banks join in, or they are no longer able to procure any metal. Best Regards, Walter K. Eichelburg Vienna, Austria

One more…

Bill: One more bit of information: After Iceland, now Hungary goes into sovereign default. They cannot sell their government bonds any longer - failed auction. ´Now everybody wants to get rid of them. Now a chain reaction of sovereign defaults is upon us. Gov. bonds are now "infected" too. Best regards, Walter K. Eichelburg

I Sent Walter’s first note to Eric LeMaire of www.24hrgold.com in Paris. He came back with…

"Exploding demand"

Dear Mr. Murphy!
As operator of the gold website www.hartgeld.com today I received several messages that the European Union now wants to go after gold. They fear that a massive run into gold cannot be controlled in any other way.

There are several rumors in banker circles:

Rumor 1 (from a high-ranking banker in Germany)

If the current last ditch system rescue fails and there is a massive stock market crash happens tomorrow Friday, severe limitations will be implemented EU-wide over the weekend:

• the sale and ownership of gold will be prohibited
• withdrawals from accounts will be limited, companies will need to prove the purpose of transfers
• even if this doesn't happen now, planning is underway
  
  Rumor 2 (a former banker with excellent contacts:

http://www.mmnews.de/index.php/20081... )

- There is a directive to banks to not any longer sell gold to the public
- Also there are efforts to reduce the amount of gold and silver which goes into the retail market to lessen the strain on the 400oz bullion bar market in London - this one determines the price. In this way they decouple demand from the price finding mechanism.

The system is now on its last legs on both sides of the Atlantic. More desperate measures are on the way as it looks. But according to Richard Russell: inflate or die. If rumor 1 becomes reality next week, it will be definitely "die" for the elites, because there will be a general uprising.

There is almost no gold available here in Europe. In Germany now banks decline sales (because they have no supply or because of this directive, I don't know). But here in Austria, gold is still available from some banks, although the quantities are limited. There is also a massive run on banks for cash everywhere, even central bankers admit it.

Probably this is of interest to your readers of Midas.

Best Regards from Vienna, Austria
Walter K. Eichelburg

!!!!! This addendum in late this afternoon:

Dear Mr. Murphy!
I've just learned that most German banks no longer sell gold - the sales ban is now active. Prospective customers hear: we do not sell gold any longer, etc. But not: we cannot procure it. Because this new regulation is of course secret, not all banks know about or comply.
There are some signs that Swiss banks join in, or they are no longer able to procure any metal. Best Regards, Walter K. Eichelburg Vienna, Austria

One more…

Bill: One more bit of information: After Iceland, now Hungary goes into sovereign default. They cannot sell their government bonds any longer - failed auction. ´Now everybody wants to get rid of them. Now a chain reaction of sovereign defaults is upon us. Gov. bonds are now "infected" too. Best regards, Walter K. Eichelburg

I Sent Walter’s first note to Eric LeMaire of www.24hrgold.com in Paris. He came back with…

Bill
Many thanks for forwarding this precious information.

Just one note on the French market. As you know, rumors of shortages of silver, then Gold at the current prices have grown and grown all over the world. I had not seen anything of the sort here, and I know all the significant dealers very well. Basically you could find large quantities of gold and silver coins at very little over spot price of metal.

This was about until a couple of weeks ago

The market has totally changed in a couple of weeks, and most of the dealers are out now. Prices have risen, and the main dealer has premiums of 20 to 50% over metal values for non numismatic coins. I believe that, at these prices, you will not be able to find any in a few weeks. More interesting, bankers I know call me for having my opinion (!) on what is happening. I tell them they are going bust (as I have told them for years) but now they realize it because one day they wake up as civil servants. 2 hot meals a day, guaranteed retirement in fiat and 50 layers of management over them.

No one has a clue here about the nature of the crisis, and they all want to solve it with more of the poison that killed the system, more credit, that is.

Funny thing, the governments in Europe spend their time telling the people not to panic. But the people, from what I see, do not panic, they are very confident the politicians will solve the problem. So just by this you know how bad the situation is.

In case you do not know them, please let me restate the two rules about panic :

Rule number one : never panic

Rule number two : if you need to panic, be the first.

Gold traded in London at $913 (656 euros) per troy ounce on Wednesday morning, up from $876.75 late Tuesday.

"Demand has exploded in the past few days," said Stephan Henkel, a gold broker at Umicore, which presses gold bars and coins and puts them on sale. Delivery times were running at two to four weeks.

"Currently, demand is about 10 times what it is at normal times," he said.

AuthorDW staff (th)

©

Deutsche WelleThis input is very disturbing…

German gold dealers have stopped taking new orders for the precious metal as demand has skyrocketed. Gold is seen as a safe investment during the market turmoil.

Bill
Many thanks for forwarding this precious information.

Just one note on the French market. As you know, rumors of shortages of silver, then Gold at the current prices have grown and grown all over the world. I had not seen anything of the sort here, and I know all the significant dealers very well. Basically you could find large quantities of gold and silver coins at very little over spot price of metal.

This was about until a couple of weeks ago

The market has totally changed in a couple of weeks, and most of the dealers are out now. Prices have risen, and the main dealer has premiums of 20 to 50% over metal values for non numismatic coins. I believe that, at these prices, you will not be able to find any in a few weeks. More interesting, bankers I know call me for having my opinion (!) on what is happening. I tell them they are going bust (as I have told them for years) but now they realize it because one day they wake up as civil servants. 2 hot meals a day, guaranteed retirement in fiat and 50 layers of management over them.

No one has a clue here about the nature of the crisis, and they all want to solve it with more of the poison that killed the system, more credit, that is.

Funny thing, the governments in Europe spend their time telling the people not to panic. But the people, from what I see, do not panic, they are very confident the politicians will solve the problem. So just by this you know how bad the situation is.

In case you do not know them, please let me restate the two rules about panic :

Rule number one : never panic

Rule number two : if you need to panic, be the first.

In uncertain economic times, Germans are dumping stocks and shares to take refuge in precious metal, accoring to a Wednesday article in a Berlin newspaper.

German gold dealers report running low on stocks of gold bars and coins.

Heiko Ganss, head of the Berlin branch of gold merchant Pro Aurum, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper that most gold traders were refusing new orders, as they couldn't meet the current demand.

"Demand is running well above our capacity to supply," he was quoted saying, saying retail banks in Germany were also unable to meet demand.