Precious Metals Take Another Beating
Jul 25th, 2008 | By Doug Casey | Category: Financial News, Gold MarketGold started down in Hong Kong and, despite a mini-rally early in the New York session, headed lower for most of the day, finishing just off its intraday low at $919.60, down $25.30. Overnight, gold is trending higher.
Platinum—what else?—continues to find non-support, although it did manage to come off its lows at the NYMEX mid-point, and end on an upnote at $1732/oz., down $65. Overnight, platinum has drifted lower.
Silver had sharper ups and downs than gold, but the high points were successively lower and it stumbled to a dismal close at $17.36/oz., down 57 cents. Overnight, silver has moved higher.
(Click here for charts)
It was another bloody day for the precious metals, as all three went into freefall. The usual suspects remained firmly in opposition to the metals, with oil slipping further, the dollar continuing to strengthen, and equities pushing higher.
Dan Norcini, writing on jsmineset.com, summed up the day’s action by saying, “We are all crude oil traders now or so it would seem. The entirety of the financial market system is now basically following the minute by minute gyrations in the crude oil market. As it moves lower, stocks move higher and so does the dollar. As it moves higher, stocks move lower and so does the dollar. Commodities in general then take their cue from that which as you no doubt observed today, were being spit out by the hedge funds like some foul tasting broth …”
Expressing further distaste for developments, Norcini added that, “Gold … was discarded like a bad habit causing it to crash through several important support levels on the chart. The mining shares did not fare any better as some of them gave up the ghost and decided to go bobbing for earthworms.”
Bulls could only watch from the sidelines as, “We seem to be in the midst of a large-scale commodities sell-off,” according to Zachary Oxman, of Wisdom Financial.
Oxman added that, “The stock market is catching a solid bid, and it feels much like early in February/March when we saw this very thing.”
Kitco’s Jon Nadler represented the bears, saying that, “At this point, we can no longer just look at options expiry and the rolling over of positions into the winter months for explanations … Supports in gold gave way rather easily and unless some buying emerges near the $920 level, we could be facing a visit to the high $800’s in the not so distant future.”
Source: Precious Metals Take Another Beating
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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.