Gold joined equities and other commodities in a broad and sharp selloff on Thursday, falling below $1,300 an ounce. Global markets continued to sink on the heels of yesterday’s comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaling that the Fed could begin slowing its monthly bond-buying later this year.
While Bernanke’s remarks suggested confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy, equities markets continued their downward spin for a second day. The U.S. dollar, by contrast, surged against other world currencies.
Gold futures for July delivery plummeted 6.4% to $1,285.90 per ounce on Thursday, according to . Gold traded as high as $1,349.80 and as low as $1,280.80. Gold bullion closed in London at $1,281, according to BullionVault.
Silver futures for July delivery plunged 8.3% to $19.82 per ounce. Thursday’s high for silver was $21.28 while the low was $19.64.
Gold and silver funds sank in Thursday trading.
- The SPDR Gold Trust () tumbled 5.4%.
- The iShares Gold Trust () also declined 5.4%.
- The iShares Silver Trust () plunged 8%.
Gold and silver mining ETFs slumped during the day.
- The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF () dropped 7.4%.
- The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF () plummeted 9.8%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF () dipped 3%.
Gold mining shares nose-dived on Thursday.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines () dove 8.1%.
- Barrick Gold () sank 7.9%.
- Eldorado Gold () dropped 9%.
- Goldcorp () plunged 8.6%.
- Kinross Gold () fell 8.5%.
- Newmont Mining () declined 6.8%.
- NovaGold Resources () slid 7.5%.
- Yamana Gold () plummeted 9.9%.
Silver mining shares pulled back sharply during the day.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines () dropped 5.6%.
- Hecla Mining () retreated 5.7%.
- Pan American Silver () fell 4.4%.
- Silver Wheaton () plunged 9.2%.
- Silver Standard Resources () moved down 7.6%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
