Ailing gold prices down to 3-year low, precious metals follow

Precious metals crashed steeply overnight with gold and silver hitting fresh lows, and the yellow shiny metal heading towards its worst quarter in decades with just a few trading days left.

Despite world stocks and bonds having a second day of big gains in Asia and Europe, investors continued Wednesday to dump assets used as a safety net in case central bank money printing went wrong or fuelled a spike in inflation.

Spot gold plummeted to its lowest since August 2010 at $1,223.54 an ounce and was down 3.8% at $1,227.86 an ounce at 6:30 am EST.

spot gold under 1250

Silver futures fell even more sharply, more than 5%, down to silver’s lowest since August 2010 at $18.39 an ounce.

spot silver under 19

In terms of other precious metals, platinum fell 2.2% at 1,320.49 an ounce and palladium dropped 3.6% at $639.22 an ounce.