Commodity Blog

Gold continued to fall today after posting a big slump yesterday. The announcement of stimulus tapering from the Federal Reserve has hit the metal hard and basically destroyed any hopes for an end-year rally. In fact, some analysts argue that gold may drop closer to the $1,000 price after it has breached the $1,200 level. Meanwhile, silver recovered a little, but the rally was nowhere as big as the previous drop. February futures for delivery of gold were down $2.8 (0.23 percent) to $1,190.8 per troy ounce as of 00:39 GMT on COMEX today. At the same time, March silver contract went up $0.04 (0.23 percent) to $19.23 per ounce.

Brent crude oil continued to gain on West Texas Intermediate grade. Overall, the Fed tapering was considered good news for oil as it suggests that economic recovery is robust enough. Indeed, according to the Energy Information Administration US inventories were falling, while demand continued to increase. February contract for delivery of WTI crude oil slipped $0.37 (0.37 percent) to $98.67 per barrel on NYMEX today. At the same time, January futures for Brent oil gained $0.66 (0.60 percent) to $110.29 per barrel on ICE.

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