Commodity Blog

Gold dropped today. Silver, platinum and palladium also fell. The precious metals were hurt by fears of the so-called fiscal cliff in the United States that damaged the market sentiment. The metals have rallied briefly yesterday after the Federal Reserve made its policy announcement, but quickly gave up the gains.

In the longer run though, the Fed’s accommodative policy should bolster gold and other precious metals. Central banks of other developed nations are also likely to ease their policies, most notably the Bank of Japan that tries to weaken the domestic currency and boost growth. Expectations of stimulative measures are bullish for the metals. In fact, gold retained its 8.8 percent gain since the beginning of this year.

February futures for delivery of gold were down as much as $20.10 (1.17 percent) to $1,697.80 per troy ounce as of 21:27 GMT on COMEX today. Silver contract for delivery in March declined $1.18 (3.48 percent) to $32.60 per ounce. Spot price for platinum dropped $19.75 (1.21 percent) to $1,614.95 per ounce and palladium lost $3.73 (0.54 percent) to $691.67 per ounce today.

If you have any questions and comments on the commodities today, use the form below to reply.