Precious metals provided no refuge from Friday's stock market rout, with gold and silver futures plunging as the dollar jumped against major currencies and short-term bond surged on rising worries that central bank tightening could spark a global recession.
Comex gold for December delivery (XAUUSD:CUR) settled -1.5% at $1,655.90/oz, hitting a fresh two-and-a-half year low, and December silver (XAGUSD:CUR) finished -3.6% at $18.90/oz; platinum and palladium also each fell 5%.
ETFs: (NYSEARCA:GLD), (NYSEARCA:GDX), (GDXJ), (IAU), (NUGT), (PHYS), (SIL), (SLV), (SIVR)
Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD), -4.4%, is poised to end with its lowest close since June 2019; other precious metals names showing 52-week lows include (IAG) -11.4%, (EXK) -9.1%, (SVM) -8.5%, (SBSW) -8%, (FSM) -6.9%, (GFI) -6.8%, (AU) -6.5%, (HMY) -5.4%, (RGLD) -4.5%, (WPM) -4.5%, (FNV) -3.7%.
"The risks of a hard landing are elevated and this has been continuing to drive flows into the dollar, which has been bad news for gold," Oanda's Edward Moya said.
The dollar touched a 20-year high, hurting demand for dollar-priced bullion, while benchmark 10-year yields popped to their highest since April 2010.
Citing the Fed's determination to bring down inflation through tighter monetary policy, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo has long expected gold to fall to $1,600/oz by year-end.