After being treated to the standard COMEX open waterfalls that saw gold smashed as low as $1684 and silver under $32.50, both metals made a vertical move to the upside around 10am EST.
Gold cleared $1700 trading as high as $1704, and silver is back above $33, reaching $33.38.
The impetus for the move appears to be a massive physical gold buy order in the range of 10 metric tons.
We can also confirm that SDBullion was in fact approached Wednesday by a UK hedge fund manager seeking the acquisition of 20 metric tons of gold in good delivery bar form, which had been physically tested for purity above .9995 within the past 5 years.
The fact that a London fund manager has resorted to contacting US retail bullion dealers in attempt to fill a 20 ton gold order speaks volumes to the availability of physical gold (or lack thereof) for delivery in London and the extreme tightness in the physical market.
