Gold Futures Fall to 5-week Low

Gold futures continued to drop for an eight day in a row. Together with the worst performing precious metal of the year – silver, gold sank 1% on the day and futures for July were traded at $1 351,05 as investors are awaiting Ben Bernankes statement about the future of the Quantitative Easing 3 program, scheduled for Wednesday. Investors are continuing to sell out the precious metal amid speculation for an earlier-than-expected end of the central banks policy. Sentiment on gold is expected to stay bearish after data showed short contracts on the metal are at the highest level since 2006.

Comex gold prices plunged 2% earlier hitting a daily low of $1 337, 75 a troy ounce, which is the weakest level since April 18.

John Stephenson, a senior vice president at First Asset Investment Management Inc. in Toronto said for Bloomberg: “Gold has faced disappointment after disappointment. It’s had a 12-year run, but the whole fear-mongering that the world is going to end is just not working. So, I think that any last vestige of an investment thesis for gold has been stripped.”

Ric Deverel, the head of commodities research at Credit Suisse Group AG, said in London on May 16 that gold will get “crushed” and trade at $1 100 in a year and below $1 000 in five years as inflation fails to accelerate. This followed George news last week about Soros, billionaire investor, joining Northern Trust Corp. and BlackRock Inc. in lowering investments in gold backed ETPs. That happened before the market went bearish last month, followed by the deepest plunge in history April 15 and thus erasing $42 billion from the value of ETP assets this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Silver follows the same trend and futures for July delivery hit today their lowest price since October 5, 2010. The precious metal lost 30% of its value in 2013. The contraction follows concerns of lowered global demand, part of which are slower sales of solar panels in Europe. Robin Bhar, an analyst at Societe Generale SA in London, said for Bloomberg: “Silver is essentially a poor man’s version of gold. It’s a precious metal and precious metals are under pressure. Secondly, it’s an industrial metal. There are too many concerns about slowing growth.”