Good news. Anytime that they want to starve their own citizens, that means cheaper food for us! /s
Posted on 01/16/2008 4:53:09 PM PST by bjs1779
NEW YORK, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Gold prices fell sharply to a one-week low on Wednesday in choppy trading as funds frantically liquidated positions to cover margin calls amid steep losses, triggering a broad sell-off in commodities.
A sharply higher dollar versus the euro after hawkish comments from a European Central Bank official and signs of slowing demand for physical gold from top consumer India also weighed heavily on gold.
With a recovering dollar, sliding energy prices and little support from buyers, the weakness in gold prices was expected to continue into Thursday, dealers said. "Today was the day traders, because of the significant move in the price of gold, had to answer margin calls. And it spread to other commodities. Nothing was immune from long liquidation today," said George Nickas, precious metals broker with FC Stone in New York. "This most likely will continue into tomorrow before the dust settles," Nickas said.
Bullion dropped sharply in overnight trade as weaker oil prices encouraged investors to take profits after a failed run at record highs above $914 per ounce on Tuesday.
Losses were extended as the euro tumbled nearly 2 cents against the dollar, making dollar priced gold dearer for non-U.S. investors.
Gold was quoted at $885.60/886.30 in New York at 2:15 p.m. EST (1915 GMT), down more than 2.5 percent from $899.50/900.20 quoted late in New York on Tuesday, after trading in a wide band of $877.80 to $899.25.
The most-active gold contract for February delivery at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled down $20.60, or 2.3 percent, at $882.00 an ounce.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
We are doomed!!!
Bush’s fault!!!
Just ask Ron Paul
< / sarcasm >
The gold train derailed.....I noticed oil fell below 90 bucks too.
Man. How come the healine isn’t Dollar is Up! Oil Down!
Warren Buffett is buying U.S. factories. That was all the signal I needed to decide the dollar had fallen as far as it was going to.
Remember Buffett was selling dollars starting a couple of years ago.
You could do worse than mimic Buffett.
That would make a great headline, but I am afraid that in the scheme of things, it would not be the truth. At least not yet.
There's a reason he's got all the money in the world.
It’s typical for gold to sell off at a century mark. I can remember without looking at a graph that the $800 area was about a two-week fight to the death and that the first touch of $700 lasted about a millisecond.
How’s Wheat lookin? The Radio keeps telling me bread is crying.
“With a recovering dollar, sliding energy prices...”
They say it in the article. Who cares if it is short term. Just like gold falling maybe/probably just a short term thing. The important thing is to GO NEGATIVE.
By the way, for me I only have 397.5% left to go before I have lost on gold.
The dollar rose on Mitt winning MI, with his pledge to rejuvenate the US auto industry, which would enhance the dollar by reducing the trade deficit.
Perhaps. I hope he’s planning to do it by cutting taxes and regulations and not with a taxpayer-funded bailout.
Good for him. Factories yes, but not in this country.
"Buffett believes that the U.S. dollar will lose value in the long run. He views the United States' expanding trade deficit as an alarming trend that will devalue the U.S. dollar and U.S. assets.
As a result it is putting a larger portion of ownership of U.S. assets in the hands of foreigners. This induced Buffett to enter the foreign currency market for the first time in 2002. However, he substantially reduced his stake in 2005 as changing interest rates increased the costs of holding currency contracts.
Buffett continues to be bearish on the dollar, and says he is looking to make acquisitions of companies which derive a substantial portion of their revenues from outside the United States.
Buffett invests in PetroChina Company Limited and in a rare move, posted a commentary[9] on Berkshire Hathaway's website why he will not divest from the company despite calls from some activists to do so."
No he is doing it by RomneyCare for every American. Oh, wait, that would not stimulate the economy.
Reuters Wednesday January 16 2008
(Updates with closing prices, adds analyst quote, byline)
By Christine Stebbins
CHICAGO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean, corn and wheat futures plunged on Wednesday amid a broad-based sell-off in commodities spurred by recession fears, traders said.
Additionally, the commodities were poised for a setback after a series of record highs as Wall Street money has been flowing into the grains, metals and energy markets as a hedge against inflation.
The biggest drop in the Chicago Board of Trade markets was in soybeans, down more than 3 percent when the March contract slipped nearly the 50-cent trading limit.
Fueling the recession talk was a move by China, the world’s top soy buyer, to tighten controls on food prices. With consumer inflation in the world’s most populous country at an 11-year high at 6.9 percent, the government ruled that food producers must obtain government permission to raise prices.
“Any time you have a major world importer or exporter putting on price controls, it’s a big bearish factor,” a Chicago trader said.
CBOT March soybeans closed 24-1/2 cents lower at $12.77 a bushel, March soybean oil ended 0.58 cent weaker at 52.73 cents per lb and March soymeal fell $9.20 per ton to $346.90.
The grains also slid. March wheat fell the 30-cent limit early to $9.02 a bushel but recovered to close just 5-1/2 cent lower at $9.26-1/2. The new-crop months from July forward ended steady to higher on worries about the size of the 2008 U.S. winter wheat crop.
March corn ended 6-1/2 cents lower at $5.02-1/2 a bushel.
“We’ve just got the markets all pumped up,” said analyst Roy Huckabay with The Linn Group, a Chicago trade house. “The break started in gold and crude oil ... everybody is talking about the freight rates being down — indicative of less demand.”
The New York gold market tumbled more than $20 an ounce to $882 and crude oil slipped below $90 a barrel for the first time since mid-December before closing about a $1 lower at $90.84 in the spot month.
Options expire this Friday. Futures, I think, settle on Tuesday 29 January.
IMHO Gold could sink to 820 but over the next year or two it should finally break the $1500 level. See HERE.
BUMP!
Where did you read that Buffet is buying US factories?
Good news. Anytime that they want to starve their own citizens, that means cheaper food for us! /s
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