Gold Futures Fall to Six-Week Low; Silver Prices Drop For Ninth Session
Gold prices sank to a six-week low on Thursday as signs of improving U.S. economic growth and easing concerns about Ukraine sapped investor interest in the haven asset.</br></br>Gold for April delivery, the most active contract, fell $8.70, or 0.7%, to $1,294.70 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. This was gold's lowest settlement price since Feb. 11, when futures closed at $1,295 an ounce.</br></br>Gold had rallied over the first two months of 2014 as investors sought to protect their wealth from risks such as a slowing U.S. economy, turbulence in emerging markets, and a political crisis in Ukraine. Gold is considered by some traders as a safer investment than currencies or Treasury bonds, because the precious metal's value isn't tied to a government or country.</br></br>But after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in mid-March, some of the uncertainty surrounding the geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe appeared to subside and gold prices turned lower. Futures are now on track to post a 2% loss for March.</br></br>"If you're a gold bull, you have to be disappointed with what's happened," said Bill O'Neill, a principal with commodities investment company Logic Advisors. "To go from $1,380 to $1,290 and change in a very brief time shows that this market doesn't have very much momentum," he added.