Gold and silver futures plunged Wednesday amid U.S. dollar strength and widespread liquidation in precious metals. The primary catalyst for the sell-off was Ben Bernanke’s semi-annual testimony to Congress, in which the Fed Chairman indicated that the central bank was not prepared to launch a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) in the near future.
COMEX gold futures, per the April contract, settled lower by $77.10, or 4.3%, at $1,711.30 per ounce but later fell to as low as $1,688.40 in electronic trading. The loss marked gold’s worst single-day decline since late September 2011, over five months ago. Furthermore, the yellow metal relinquished its entire gain for the month of February and cut its year-to-date return to 7.8%.
Silver futures fared even worse than gold, as the COMEX May contract plummeted $2.56, or 6.9%, to $34.64 per ounce. Despite today’s significant decline, however, silver futures remain higher by 24.1% in 2012.
Other precious metals posted smaller but still considerable losses. Platinum futures slid $30.90, or 1.8%, to $1,692.60 per ounce and palladium dropped $13.80, or 1.9%, to $708.40 per ounce.
Among cyclical commodities, copper futures retreated $0.04, or 1.1%, to $3.88 per pound while crude oil rose $0.52, or 0.5%, to $107.07 per barrel.
Platinum Group Metals Reports High-Grade Results at Waterberg
Platinum Group Metals plans to propose to the Joint Venture Partners that the exploration program be expanded from five to ten drill rigs. A budget will be announced when agreed upon by the Joint Venture. Full Platinum Group Metals News Release.
- 4.77 grams per tonne (g/t) of platinum, palladium, and gold over 4.75 meters (m) for the T2 reef in hole WB005
- 7.28 g/t over 5.00m in hole WB008
- The Company noted the excellent exploration potential of the Waterberg project due to the discovery of consistently high grade intercepts
- Drilling through the Waterberg sediments by the joint venture has discovered a previously unrecognized portion of the Bushveld Complex North of the North Limb
