Precious Metals Slammed
Sep 3rd, 2008 | By Doug Casey | Category: Financial News, Gold MarketGold held up near Monday’s holiday price until New York opened yesterday, whereupon it plummeted by $20 in the first hour, touching bottom at $790 before moving fitfully upward for the rest of the day and finishing at $804.90, down $25.20 from Friday. Overnight, gold has slipped lower.
Platinum got hammered and, though it rose off its low of $1360 in the New York morning, still kissed last week’s rally goodbye, giving up $80 to end at $1383/oz. Overnight, platinum has been flat.
Silver took a terrible thrashing, plunging nearly 70 cents in the first hour of New York trading, to $12.50, but then shot higher, reaching $13.10 by the end of the NYMEX and holding near there to close at at $13.05/oz., down 54 cents. Overnight, silver has fallen off.
It was a sorry return from the holiday for the precious metals, as falling equities sent little money the metals’ way after Gustav proved far less severe than feared, driving down the price of crude and lending support to the dollar. Commodities were weak across the board yesterday.
The bears could be in for a short-lived turn in the sun, though, as two and possibly three more potential hurricanes lined up at sea, and as international tensions tightened with reports that the U.S. and E.U. are considering joint sanctions against Russia over the Georgia situation.
The war of words between the bulls and bears continued.
“In the present environment, with a strong and rising U.S. dollar, and with wheat, sugar, and crude oil under pressure, gold cannot stand up on its own and be counted bullishly,” wrote Dennis Gartman, author of the Gartman Letter. “For the gold bulls times are hard and getting harder.”
Hard, no doubt. But getting harder?
Mark O’Byrne, of Gold and Silver Investment, doesn’t think so. “It will be interesting to see how long gold can remain at these depressed levels especially with physical demand so robust in India and internationally,” O’Byrne said.
Look for gold to bottom at $790 in the next three weeks, and to attract buyers from there, analysts at Société Générale wrote.
Source: Precious metals slammed - Succumb to general commodities selloff.
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Doug Casey is a contrarian investor, sought-after public speaker and author of several books. His work "Crisis Investing" held the position of # 1 bestseller on the New York Times list for 26 consecutive weeks. Doug's unusual views on the economy - and just about everything else - have gained a huge following in the investment community, and it certainly helps that his stock recommendations of undervalued junior exploration companies have made his subscribers millions. Now in its 27th year, Doug's monthly newsletter, the International Speculator, is one of the most established and esteemed publications on gold, silver and other natural resource investments. Together with the Casey Energy Speculator, it covers a broad range of carefully selected stocks with the very real potential of double- and triple-digit returns within 12 to 24 months.