Could be they're ginning up the fear to get a run; or, if the shortage IS real...JPMC and a few other slime players will sell huge quantities of gold derivatives at 0800 tomorrow EST...drive down demand and price...
Well, Au being the most malleable of noble metals, monkey-hammered to a veneer finer than paper, I would say we have a looooooooooooooooong way to go yet.
10 years ago, I read that there were 6 billion ounces of gold above ground, in bars or coins or jewelry, since the beginning of history & mining.
1 oz per human, in other words...
I doubt that in 10 years a billion more ounces were mined or discovered, and that this number remains almost the same.
But during these 10 years, there have been "ETFs" and "Funds" holding OVER 100 TIMES that "amount" of gold... "in PAPER CERTIFICATES", but NOT in PHYSICAL METAL.
"If you don't hold it, you don't own it", goes the saying. When "push comes to shove", you'll be left with an "IOU", possibly WORTHLESS.
We've got "virtual cryptocurrencies" (which I STILL cannot understand), but VIRTUAL METALS is something that I CAN understand = if it's not in your hand, you DO NOT HAVE IT. There just MIGHT be some with the "broker" who's holding it for you, but you have to be the FIRST out of MORE THAN A HUNDRED to CLAIM THE PHYSICAL if you REALLY want to own it, since there is more than 100x "paper metal" than "physical metal" in the "marketplace".
Not too hard to understand, is it? Doesn't it make it "worthwhile" to have "physical in your hand" rather than "paper in an account"?
Many have told you this - but it's fallen on a lot of deaf ears.