Guys - I haven't read this whole thread - so apologies if this...

Guys - I haven't read this whole thread - so apologies if this has been mentioned. But we really need to clean up the confusion over lease rates.

If you are looking at the lease rates on Kitco - they represent the rate you would earn if you borrowed gold from the banks, sold it at the spot price and then lent that money at the current libor rate. The actual cost of borrowing gold is closer to the GOFO rate (the percentage difference between the spot and futures prices).

The recent drop in lease rates is a result of the drop in libor recently. It means that the gold carry trade is no longer as profitable as it was. So it should be seen as bullish for gold.