Updated from 12:54 p.m. EST Energy prices moved up Friday as snow hit the Northeast and forecasts indicated continuing cold weather for the weekend, suggesting demand will be higher for gas heat. Prices for February-dated crude oil futures closed up $1.51 at $51.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The February contract terminates Monday and so spot market activity now switches to the March contract, which closed at $53.40, up $1.59. Other energy products were also up....
Silver, Gold Get Hammered Hard As Strong Dollar Sparks Liquidation
February 9, 2007 on 1:35 pm | In |
BY REUTERS
Posted 12/15/2006
Silver futures plunged 7% on Friday to close below $13 an ounce while gold dropped almost 2%, as a rallying dollar and weaker base metals triggered heavy selling by funds ahead of the weekend.
Sources also cited the bullish stock market and predicted precious metal markets would stay choppy toward year-end.
New York Mercantile Exchange March silver plummeted to a four-week low, down 97 cents, or 7%, to finish at $12.980, with trade in a range of $12.905 to $13.980.
It was the contract’s biggest one-day percentage drop since Sept 11, when it fell 8%.
Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management, called precious metal markets “way too high” and said fund selling was behind the market’s decline .
“When the dollar started to turn around, all the funds got out at the same time, creating enormous volatility,” said Kaplan.
“You see the funds liquidating everything. They are selling grain. They are selling copper, everything.”
Kaplan said that when the stock market could not maintain its new highs, it was the signal for investors to sell, including commodities.
The March silver contract had gained nearly 30% in two months before Friday’s nose dive. Market watchers had questioned whether silver could sustain those lofty levels, as the precious metal was supported by speculative moves by exchange traded funds and lacked physical demand.
February gold at the Comex division of the Nymex slumped to a six-week low, down $11.80 to $619.10 an ounce. It had hit a session low of $617.50, last seen on Nov. 1.
Estimated volume was 32,000 contracts, and options turnover was 3,500. Turnover in the Chicago Board of Trade’s electronically traded 100-ounce gold contract was 63,418 contracts as of 3:31 p.m. EST.
Gold initially rose as the dollar slipped, after the government said core consumer inflation was unexpectedly mild in November.
The dollar later rallied as investors took profits on the euro’s recent rally and bought dollars instead.
“The sell-off certainly began with the dollar-friendly economic data,” said James Steel, analyst at HSBC. “It’s not just precious metals; the base metals were down quite a bit too,” he said.
Base metal prices faltered and copper fell to six-month lows as the dollar firmed.
Steel said the harsh selling was most likely related to position squaring ahead of the year-end holidays.
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Nuttall, Talbot to face court on corruption charges »Former Queensland Government minister Gordon Nuttall and prominent mining company executive Ken Talbot will appear in court in the next few weeks on corruption charges. The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) has charged Nuttall with 35 counts of corruptly receiving payments totalling close to $300,000 from Talbot between October 2002 and September 2005. Talbot is facing related charges of corruptly making the payments. Nuttall will appear in court next Thursday and Talbot will appear...
The holidays have come and gone, but winter has yet to arrive in the northeastern U.S., where puffy parkas languish on store racks, rock salt stores pile up, and snowplows sit idle. And as temperatures heat up throughout the Northern Hemisphere, oil prices are cooling off dramatically. Crude prices saw their most precipitous drop in two years on Jan. 4, with the February contract for the benchmark West Texas Intermediate grade tumbling to $55.59 in New York Mercantile Exchange trading. And while...
Silver, Gold Get Hammered Hard As Strong Dollar Sparks Liquidation
January 9, 2007 on 8:31 am | In Finance |
BY REUTERS
Posted 12/15/2006
Silver futures plunged 7% on Friday to close below $13 an ounce while gold dropped almost 2%, as a rallying dollar and weaker base metals triggered heavy selling by funds ahead of the weekend.
Sources also cited the bullish stock market and predicted precious metal markets would stay choppy toward year-end.
New York Mercantile Exchange March silver plummeted to a four-week low, down 97 cents, or 7%, to finish at $12.980, with trade in a range of $12.905 to $13.980.
It was the contract’s biggest one-day percentage drop since Sept 11, when it fell 8%.
Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management, called precious metal markets “way too high” and said fund selling was behind the market’s decline .
“When the dollar started to turn around, all the funds got out at the same time, creating enormous volatility,” said Kaplan.
“You see the funds liquidating everything. They are selling grain. They are selling copper, everything.”
Kaplan said that when the stock market could not maintain its new highs, it was the signal for investors to sell, including commodities.
The March silver contract had gained nearly 30% in two months before Friday’s nose dive. Market watchers had questioned whether silver could sustain those lofty levels, as the precious metal was supported by speculative moves by exchange traded funds and lacked physical demand.
February gold at the Comex division of the Nymex slumped to a six-week low, down $11.80 to $619.10 an ounce. It had hit a session low of $617.50, last seen on Nov. 1.
Estimated volume was 32,000 contracts, and options turnover was 3,500. Turnover in the Chicago Board of Trade’s electronically traded 100-ounce gold contract was 63,418 contracts as of 3:31 p.m. EST.
Gold initially rose as the dollar slipped, after the government said core consumer inflation was unexpectedly mild in November.
The dollar later rallied as investors took profits on the euro’s recent rally and bought dollars instead.
“The sell-off certainly began with the dollar-friendly economic data,” said James Steel, analyst at HSBC. “It’s not just precious metals; the base metals were down quite a bit too,” he said.
Base metal prices faltered and copper fell to six-month lows as the dollar firmed.
Steel said the harsh selling was most likely related to position squaring ahead of the year-end holidays.
No Comments yet
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
The Dow Hits a Landmark: 12,000 »The Dow Hits a Landmark: 12,000 The Dow Jones Industrial Average Tops 12,000 for the First Time By DAN ARNALL Oct. 18, 2006 - The Dow Jones industrial average — the widely watched stock market index — crossed over the 12,000 mark briefly for the first time in its 110-year history today. The Dow crossed the threshold twice, before retreating slightly, closing just under 12,000. The Dow has already set seven closing records in the last two weeks. Twelve thousand is a major...