China gets booted from the top ten

At least until the World Gold Council updates their statistics, the streetTRACKS Gold Shares ETF (NYSE:GLD) has displaced China from the top ten list in gold holdings with the addition of 18 tonnes yesterday.
Here's how the new list might look, that is, if the World Gold Council chose to include private holdings of gold bullion along with those reported by central banks and other organizations such as the IMF.

Man, I can't believe that I made up this table and didn't realize that the GLD ETF passed the European Central Bank (ECB) as well and is now in 9th place and not 10th as shown below (a subsequent update will be provided later this morning).

Yesterday's addition of 18 tonnes to the trust was the largest single day share creation in almost two years. You have to go back to January of 2006, after the price of the metal first rose through the $500 level, to see a larger single day share creation.

[Note the wording above and below - a reader provided guidance on the correct terminology when this chart was last shown here. The fund does not actually buy and sell bullion but creates and redeems shares that correspond to bullion that is purchased and sold by broker/dealers.]

Netherlands - you're next.

-------------------------------------------

UPDATE Wed., Nov 28 at 8:45 AM PST

The table has been updated to show the gold ETF in 9th place, ahead of the European Central Bank, instead of 10th place as originally indicated.

To learn more about investing in natural resources using commonly traded ETFs, stocks, and mutual funds, see this description at Iacono Research. Or, sign up for a free trial.