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Commodities & Metals

Gold Dives, Drags Equities and Oil Along

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By Paul Ausick Updated Published
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Gold bars
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Today’s 9.3% drop in the price of gold was the largest one-day drop in 30 years. The sell-off began in Asia last night, continued through the day in Europe, and wound up slamming U.S. markets as well. Silver prices fell about 11% to its lowest one day close in more than two years.

WTI crude oil closed below $89 a barrel and natural gas fell nearly 2%. The SPDR Gold Shares trust (NYSEMKT: GLD) lost 8.8% today to close at $131.31 after posting a new 52-week low of $130.51 earlier today.

Among equities, gold mining stocks took the brunt of the punishment with Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE: ABX), Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX), and Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) down across the board.

The slide is related to a slower-than-expected growth rate in China’s GDP, which rose just 7.7% in the first quarter. Also factoring in were lower-than-expected readings on home builder confidence and the Empire State manufacturing index.

Rather than dig in for more gold to guard against inflation, investors turned to U.S. government bonds. Yield were down by about 4 basis points on 10-year notes and about 5 basis points on 30-year bonds.

Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

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