The gold price dropped $9.00 to $1,364.50 Friday morning, sending the price of gold down 4.0% thus far in 2011. Better than expected sovereign debt auctions in Spain and Italy and hawkish comments on inflation from European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet weighed on the gold price yesterday.
As stop losses are hit in COMEX gold futures, gold continues to sink. The euro surged higher against the U.S. Dollar yesterday, rising 1.6%, to 1.334 and traded near that level heading into the open on Wall Street.
Silver moved lower in concert with the gold price once again, falling $0.10 to $28.58 per ounce. Shares of gold and silver companies were weaker in pre-market activity after posting considerable losses on Thursday. The Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index (XAU) retreated 3.4% to 208.74 yesterday with notable decliners including XAU components Barrick Gold (ABX), Kinross Gold (KGC), and Silver Wheaton (SLW). Shares of ABX, KGC, and SLW finished lower by 5.1%, 3.2%, and 5.9%, respectively.
The gold price also came under fire on comments from legendary investor Jim Rogers, who stated in a presentation to business professionals in Chicago that the yellow metal is “overdue for a rest” and likely headed lower in the shorter-term. Rogers, who founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros in the 1970s and correctly predicted the start of the commodities bull market in 1999 has been bullish on the gold price for the better part of the past decade.
Jim Rogers has taught finance at Columbia University’s business school and is a media commentator worldwide. He is the author of Adventure Capitalist, Investment Biker, Hot Commodities, A Gift to My Children, and A Bull in China. See his website.
