Gold Sells Off as U.S. Dollar Index Firms and Crude Oil Weakens

New York (Nov 19)  The gold market continues to be held hostage by the U.S. dollar. The dollar index pushed to its daily, while crude oil futures prices dropped to their daily lows in late-morning dealings Wednesday. This put solid downside price pressure on the gold market, including some sell stop orders being triggered by the shorter-term traders in the futures market. There may have also been some selling interest in gold Wednesday morning ahead of the afternoon release of the FOMC minutes, which some think could lean toward the hawkish side of U.S. monetary policy. February Comex gold last traded down $18.00 an ounce at $1,180.00.

Spot silver last traded at $16.o5, down 12 cents on the day, while platinum was down $8 to $1,191.

Source: KitcoNews