With China facing an economic slowdown and many questioning whether or not the nation’s government data presents a reliable picture of just how bad the situation is, metal prices have fallen to multi-year lows.
Whenever I put the proverbial pen to paper and start to write about gold, I can already hear the chorus of dissenting voices from those traders and investors who only view their beloved metal as bullish, and can never accept the reality of what is actually happening on the chart.
For silver investors, and those who rushed headlong into buying when silver prices hit the $50 per ounce price point, it is perhaps the monthly chart which makes depressing reading, with the meteoric rise now reflected in an equally dramatic fall, and mirroring what has happened which in the price of gold.
Many traders immediately think of precious metals like gold (GLD, quote)when hedging inflation.
For speculative traders, the last few weeks have offered wonderful trading opportunities across all markets, and provided you have no directional bias, the opportunities are there in abundance.
With another trading week over, and Non Farm Payroll having come and gone for another month, markets in general are now looking forward, as the minor reversal in the US dollar’s unstoppable progress appears to have simply been a temporary pause and reaction to the worse than expected employment data.
For equity bulls, the nightmare is over for now. For gold and silver bugs it’s just beginning. If yesterday’s price action was concerning, the overnight news from Japan has opened the trap door for both metals, which has seen them plunge in early trading, as the Bank of Japan sent shock waves through the market announcing an acceleration of its bond buying program.
Yesterday’s trading session for commodities was an interesting one to say the least, with oil prices slumping, gold prices whipsawing, and silver prices breaking lower with momentum, as the bears continue to maintain a vice like grip on the market.
Whilst it’s been a torrid time for gold bugs, investors in silver have fared little better, with the metal falling from the dizzy heights of $50 per ounce, to currently trade at $19 per ounce.
The plunge in gold prices yesterday, rocked the markets with the precious metal shedding over $30 per ounce in the futures market as the big operators finally triggered the move in a classic pump and dump operation.
