(From GoldAlert.Com)
Gold and silver futures posted losses Tuesday amid a widespread sell-off in the commodities complex.
COMEX gold futures, per the June contract, settled lower by $14.50, or 1.0%, at $1,453.60 per ounce, while silver futures for May delivery finished down $0.55, or 1.3%, at $40.07 per ounce.
Other metals followed suit, with copper, platinum, and palladium finishing lower by 1.7%, 1.0%, and 2.3%, respectively.
One of the biggest decliners among commodities was oil, which tumbled 3.3% to $106.25 per barrel after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced its 2011 growth forecasts for the U.S. and Japan.
Also contributing to the sell-off in oil prices was a bearish report from Goldman Sachs. In a note to clients, analysts at Goldman wrote that “Near-term crude oil price risk is becoming more symmetric. Although potential contagion risk in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains elevated… at these price levels the risks are becoming more symmetric, which shifts the risk/reward of being long oil.”
The Goldman report went on to say that “Not only are there now nascent signs of oil demand destruction in the United States…but also record speculative length in the oil market, elections in Nigeria and a potential cease-fire in Libya that has begun to offset some of the upside risk owing to contagion, leaving price risk more neutral at current levels.”
Source link: http://www.goldalert.com/2011/04/gold-silver-futures-slip-oil-plunges/
