Gold News & Info

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures tumbled to their lowest in nearly two weeks Tuesday on a rising dollar, worries China will soon announce steps to control inflation, and as metals investors learned they will have to pony up more money to trade. Signs that U.S. inflation remains at bay also contributed to gold�s selloff. Copper, which wasn�t affected by the rising margin requirements, sold off more than 5% as concerns about the metal centered around China�s appetite for it. Gold for December delivery dropped $30.10, or 2.2%, to $1,338.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was gold�s lowest since Nov. 3.

The CME Group, which owns Nymex, late Monday raised margin requirements for its most popular gold, silver, platinum and palladium futures contracts. A margin requirement is the money investors must put up to trade. In the case of silver the exchange raised the maintenance requirement after a 30% increase last week. Silver for December delivery lost 86 cents, or 3.3%, to $25.23 an ounce. That�s silver�s lowest settlement since Nov. 3. See full story.