Today's News from Kitco
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices sank to nearly three-year lows in overnight trading. Both markets have seen weak-handed long liquidation and technical short-selling in the futures markets due to several factors, including ideas the U.S. economy is getting strong enough that the Federal Reserve will begin to scale back its monetary stimulus program. Comex August gold was last down $39.10 at $1,236.00 an ounce. Spot gold was last quoted down $39.90 at $1,238.25. July Comex silver last traded down $0.866 at $18.66 an ounce.
A strong batch of U.S. economic data on Tuesday further bolstered notions the Fed will begin to wean the U.S. economy from its easy-money policies, which for several years have been a bullish underlying factor for the raw commodity sector, including the precious metals.
A cash crunch in China recently has also worked to reduce demand for physical gold in that nation. Also, major gold consumer India is also seeing slack demand for physical gold after the Indian government slapped additional duties on the import of gold in order to reduce its trade deficit. Other raw commodity markets are also seeing selling pressure because of worries about China’s economy, which is the second-largest in the world.
More here.
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