I think there is trouble in the international settlement markets and if you don’t have the cash, you sell what you can sell and that is gold.
I think there may not currently be trouble, but rather an attempt by the Obama administration to prop up the dollar.
It seems the trade situation is all dollar-strong, trade weak.
Whether it works, we shall see.
Myself I would prefer we work on improving our trade situation, but it seems Obama is propping up the dollar.
At least that is my opinion.
That may partially explain the drop but I’d still contend the major reason is market manipulation of paper that may or may not actually be backed by gold. The price of which bears no real relation to physical gold except to the extent newbie investors get fooled into believing it is one and the same.
Although you can usually get better deals elsewhere, I find it interesting to compare the spot price for paper gold and silver to physical sales in the open market on eBay...and that premium is roughly the same that I see at local dealers.