Here’s a fascinating item just in from Rick’s Picks forum regular Roger Erickson:

3:26 PM Gold leasing rates are at record lows, driven down by French and Italian banks lending the metal in exchange for needed greenbacks. Tuesday’s rate of -0.57% suggests a bank would actually have to pay for the privilege of lending its gold for dollars.

A comment by ‘Youngman’:

“Double HMMMM..this is why the price of gold and silver are down…you will never know how many times they have loaned one bar to how many entities…Probably in the 100´s….as the bank knows no one will take possession…talk about a scam..”