In percentage terms, Monday's 9 percent loss would be the biggest since 1983 and was almost double the loss on Friday. Commodities fell across the board, but few as hard as gold, which hit a two-year low, and silver which plunged 11 percent.
Bullion's collapse caught many veteran investors, who see gold as portfolio protection against inflation and other market risks, by surprise. Monday's drop eclipsed the rout on January 22, 1980, a day after gold hit its then-record $850 on global panic over oil-led inflation due to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and the Iranian revolution.
There have been no sudden changes in the macro economic argument for gold in the last week, although numerous factors have kept gold from rising this year while investments like U.S. stocks took off.
While last week's news that the Central bank of Cyprus might sell gold reserves to finance its European Union bank bailout did trigger a rush for the exits when bullion slid below the pivotal $1,500 an ounce threshold, few saw it likely to usher in a round of other official disposals.
"The pressure from proposed sale of Cyprus gold is one of the factors, and once one of them start they all run from the hen house," said Robert Richardson, senior account executive and trading officer at Canadian broker-dealer W.D. Latimer Co. Ltd.
The big question is whether gold has entered a lasting bear market after 12 years of consecutive yearly gains. Gold hit the lowest price since February 2011 and has now almost halved its rally since the 2008 economic crisis, leaving the metal around $550 below its record high of $1,920.30 set in September 2011.
It is down 30 percent from that high well in excess of the 20 percent considered a bear market milestone.
Recent signs that Fed officials appeared to be nearing a decision to start winding down their bond purchases to end stimulus contributed to the negative tone for gold, even though inflation has failed to materialize as feared during its rounds of post-financial crisis quantitative easing.
Spot gold dropped as low as $1,336.04 an ounce before recovering slightly to $1,347.29 by 4:31 p.m. EST (1931 GMT), down 8.9 percent, its biggest single percentage fall since 1983.
U.S. futures for June delivery settled down $140.30 at $1,361.10. Trading volume hit a record high exceeding 700,000 lots, almost quadruple the 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.
Gold recouped losses a bit when news of two explosions hit the Boston Marathon late Monday afternoon, killing at least two people and injuring 23. The metal, however, fell further in late trade.
The exodus from bullion hit broader commodity and financial markets. U.S. stocks posted their worst day since November due in part to losses in commodity-related stocks. But Monday's selloff in the Dow Jones industrial stock average came days after stock indexes hit record highs.
Disappointing Chinese economic data earlier on Monday simply gave investors another excuse to slash holdings as U.S. equities and other key industrial commodities including oil and copper fell.
FUND LIQUIDATION WEIGHS
Liquidation came from all quarters, including exchange-traded funds, speculators and even physical bullion owners in China and India, the world's largest bullion markets, said David Govett, head of precious metals at Marex Spectron in London.
"This is a market that has only got one thing on its mind ... get me out," he said.
Plummeting prices took their toll on shares of gold mining companies, as Canada's Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), the world's biggest gold producer, slid 10 percent.
On Monday, hedge fund manager John Burbank, a long-time investor in gold, said the recent sharp selloff in bullion came as a surprise to many investors as some economic improvement and declining commodity prices took their toll.
Investors cut exposure to gold, with total holdings at the world's major bullion gold-backed exchange-traded-funds falling to their lowest since early 2012.
Traders also cited liquidation by prominent hedge funds in gold exchange traded funds, especially the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD.P), which was one of the most-active trading U.S. stocks. The gold ETF posted a record monthly outflow in February.
Paulson & Co, run by billionaire financier John Paulson and by far the biggest shareholder in SPDR Gold, told clients earlier this month its gold fund suffered double-digit losses during the first quarter.
The reversal of yen carry trades, in which investors borrowed cheaply in the Japanese currency to reinvest the money in higher yield assets, also led to some gold selling as the yen rebounded from a four-year low against the dollar.
Jewelers in New York slashed prices and shoppers sought out potential bargains.
Retail investors scooped up gold coins at lower prices, Ray Nessim, CEO of major U.S. coin dealer Manfra, Tordella & Brookes told Reuters.
Among other precious metals, silver was down 11.8 percent to $22.81 an ounce. Palladium dropped 7.8 percent to $652.72, while platinum was down 6 percent at $1,396.24, on the verge of entering a bear market, or 20 percent off from its recent high set earlier this year. 4:31 PM EST LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL US Gold JUN 1361.10-140.30 -9.3 1335.10 1495.00 657,904 US Silver MAY 23.361 -2.970 -11.3 22.535 26.045 192,837 US Plat JUL 1424.80 -71.10 -4.8 1397.10 1488.00 27,448 US Pall JUN 667.00 -42.10 -5.9 652.45 709.85 13,637
Gold 1347.29-131.06 -8.9 1338.26 1495.16 Silver 22.810 -3.040 -11.8 22.600 26.080 Platinum 1396.24 -88.76 -6.0 1400.50 1485.50 Palladium 652.72 -55.28 -7.8 655.77 704.00
TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG US Gold 704,637 184,473 173,074 23.7 6.06 US Silver 227,619 45,433 52,451 25.97 5.30 US Platinum 27,819 15,029 11,876 19.53 5.21 US Palladium 13,690 4,727 5,261
(Additional report by Lewa Pardomuan and Manolo Serapio Jn in Singapore; editing by Alden Bentley)
Posts
es posible que ahora sustituyan esta burbuja por la del bitcoin que verbigracia está comenzando a ser inoculada a la opinión pública. y es que la verdadera magia está en las palabras y el virus más resistente en las ideas.
ReplyDeletesaludos,
Por supuesto, qué no lograrán, si otrora hasta consiguieron crear una burbuja basada en el "capullo"(**) de tulipán:
ReplyDeletehttp://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulipoman%C3%ADa
(*) todas las burbujas son variantes de un esquema de estafa piramidal. Como ya he explicado en infinidad de ocasiones, la riqueza es una magnitud de tiempo y el tiempo es energía, y ésta, a su vez, ni se crea ni se destruye, se transforma, y lo mismo le pasa a la riqueza de la premisa inicial. MULTIPLICAR EL DINERO ES COMO MULTIPLICAR LAS PORCIONES DE UNA TARTA QUE SIEMPRE ES LA MISMA, PUEDES TOCAR A MÁS PORCIONES, PERO SERÁN CADA VEZ MÁS PEQUEÑAS = INFLACIÓN
(**) en realidad fue una burbuja del bulbo; el capullo era el borrego que mordió el anzuelo, claro