Daily Gold Update

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— In its biggest one-day slide in nearly four months, gold fell 2.1% to finish just above $1,300. What began as pre-Easter profit-taking following yesterday's close at $1,327, a three-week high, rapidly accelerated into a technical sell-off after CPI data revealed a 0.2% uptick in consumer prices last month. Automatic stop-loss selling pushed prices as low as $1,284 before they rebounded on safe-haven demand because of mounting tensions in the Ukraine.

The dollar strengthened against most rivals, further pressuring gold and other commodities, behind speculation that rising inflation may encourage the Fed to accelerate the taper of quantitative easing. Tantamount to printing money, QE has supported higher gold prices by devaluing the dollar and increasing the risk of long-term inflation. The other precious metals followed gold lower, with silver plunging 2.6% while platinum dropped 1.6% and palladium lost 1.9%.

At the Comex close: June gold fell $27.20 to $1,300.30; May silver plunged 52 cents to $19.49; July platinum dropped $22.80 to $1,444.60; and June palladium lost $15.60 to $795.90 an ounce.

The World Gold Council reported today that China's gold demand is forecast to rise 25% over the next four years as the nation's population becomes wealthier. China overtook India this year as the world's leading gold consumer.