Gold sank in Wednesday trading after a report showed little sign of inflationary pressure in the U.S. economy. Investors traditionally view the precious metal as a hedge against rising inflation.
The Labor Department said that consumer prices slipped slightly last month. The government’s consumer price index edged down a seasonally-adjusted 0.1% in October, its first dip since April. Over the past year, consumer prices have risen 1%, the smallest gain since 2009. A separate report showed retail sales up a better-than-expected 0.4% last month.
Comex gold prices fell even further in afternoon trading after the release of the Federal Reserve’ Federal Open ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½s Committee Meeting (FOMC) for October, which revealed that Fed officials expect to begin tapering monthly stimulus at one of its next few meetings.
Gold futures for December delivery dropped 1.2% to $1,258 per ounce on Wednesday, according to . Gold traded as high as $1,275.70 and as low as $1,245.30. Bullion closed in London at $1,248, according to .
Silver futures for December slid 1.4% to $20.06 per ounce. Wednesday’s high for silver was $20.49, while the low was $19.84.
Metal funds declined in Wednesday trading.
- The SPDR Gold Shares () fell 2.3%.
- The iShares Gold Trust () dropped 2.4%.
- The iShares Silver Trust () sank 2.6%.
Mining ETFs retreated during the day.
- The ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Vectors Gold Miners ETF () slid 3.4%.
- The ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF () tumbled 4.6%.
- The Global X Silver Miners ETF () moved down 3.3%.
Gold stocks sank on Wednesday.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines () fell 2.9%.
- Barrick Gold () slipped 3.7%.
- Eldorado Gold () dropped 3.9%.
- Goldcorp () moved down 3%.
- Kinross Gold () tumbled 4.1%.
- Newmont Mining () declined 3.5%.
- NovaGold Resources () dipped 0.9%.
- Yamana Gold () waned 2.2%.
Silver mining shares pulled back during the day.
- Coeur d’Alene Mines () fell 2.7%.
- Hecla Mining () slid 1.8%.
- Pan American Silver () fell 2.6%.
- Silver Wheaton () dropped 2.5%.
- Silver Standard Resources () tumbled 4.1%.
As of this writing, Christopher Freeburn did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of contributed to this report.
