Gold & Silver Slide Even as Stocks Fall, Dollar Plummets; Crude Oil Loses 12% in One Day

From Chris Mullen at GoldSeek.com...

Gold and silver remained near unchanged in Asia and London on Wednesday before they dropped as much as 3.4% and 4.8% by midmorning in New York.

Both Spot Gold and silver then cut into their losses in early afternoon trade, but they subsequently fell back off in the last hour and ended with losses of 2.8% and 2.8% for the session.

The Gold Price in Euros fell to €615 an ounce, platinum gained $13 to $973.50, and copper fell over 7 cents to about $1.50.

Gold Mining and silver equities fell over 5% about an hour into US trade, before they cut into their losses slightly by about noon EST. The gold miners then fell back off to new lows – along with the major indices – in afternoon trade, They ended with over 8% losses on the day.

There were no major economic reports, but the ADP Employment report showed a greater than expected loss of 693,000 jobs in December – the most since ADP Employer Services began its data series in 2001.

Also of economic note, Congress said the US budget deficit will swell to a record $1.186 trillion in fiscal 2009 as the global recession saps the economy.

Applications for US residential mortgages – including refinancing – slipped from a five-year high last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said. It believes home-owners may be waiting for the Fed to enter the mortgage-bond market more aggressively and begin Quantitative Easing before they apply to refinance.

The American Bankers Association also reported late payments on consumer loans are at a 28-year high.

Back in the markets, crude oil fell 12.3% – the single greatest one-day plunge in 7 years – as US stockpile inventories grew much more than expected.

Crude inventories built 6.7 million barrels, gasoline inventories built 3.3 million barrels, and distillates rose 1.8 million barrels as demand continued to weaken.

The US Dollar index plummeted and bonds remained near unchanged as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell about 3% on poor company earnings and the ADP Employment report.