Plunge in metals natural as bearish money managers hold upper hand

Summary: Gold and silver’s recent weakness is largely being driven by “bearish” money managers and hedge funds who’ve been moving money from gold back ETFs and futures contracts and into equities. “Short” positions (expect a drop in price) on gold have outpaced “long” positions (expect a rise in price) thus far in 2013. And while physical demand is picking up some of the slack, the money managers still hold the upper hand. However, India’s central bank is instituting steps to curb gold demand in an effort to reverse the country’s trade deficit. This had hardly had an effect on gold (jewelry/coins/bars) demand. Read more…