Commodities retreat as dollar gains strength
NEW YORK — Gold, copper and oil fell as the dollar rebounded Friday but still managed to finish the month with big gains.
The dollar rose against other currencies as investors sought shelter in safe assets like cash and Treasurys as stock prices tumbled. A drop in consumer spending stoked fears that the economy’s rebound in the third quarter will be fleeting, leaving the Dow Jones industrial average with a loss of 250 points.
The ICE Futures US dollar index, which measures the dollar against other major currencies, gained 0.6 percent in afternoon trading, making commodities more expensive for foreign buyers and sending prices lower.
The gain in the dollar and the decline in commodities was a reverse of Thursday’s trading, when investors poured money into riskier assets after the government said third-quarter gross domestic product jumped a bigger-than-expected 3.5 percent. But many in the market are worried that such growth has largely been driven by government stimulus and won’t be sustainable.
Other than Thursday’s trading, doubts about the economy’s recovery have hung over the market for much of this week, driving the dollar higher in six of the last seven trading days.
The greenback is still down about 0.4 percent over the past month and down 14.2 percent since early March as record-low interest rates make other assets more attractive. The weak dollar has sent commodities prices sharply higher for much of this year.
On Friday, gold for December delivery gave up $6.70 to $1,040.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices fell 1.5 percent this week, but ended the month up 3.1 percent.
December silver dropped 40 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $16.255 an ounce, while December platinum lost $11.90 to $1,323.10 an ounce. Palladium slipped 1.5 percent.
Among industrial metals, December copper futures fell 7.4 cents to $2.9555 a pound. Copper logged a 4.8 percent gain for the month.
The stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices, which tumbled nearly 4 percent, erasing all of the previous day’s big gains. Light, sweet crude lost $2.87 to settle at $77 a barrel. Even with Friday’s decline, oil prices rose 8.5 percent in October.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil fell 7.31 cents to $1.9811 a gallon and gasoline for November delivery fell 7.58 cents to $1.9432 a gallon.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, December wheat futures shed 9.5 cents to $4.9425 a bushel, while corn for December delivery lost 13.5 cents to $3.66 a bushel.
January soybeans fell 10.5 cents to $9.765 a bushel.
December coffee prices fell 1.25 cents to $1.355 a pound. Bucking the trend in soft commodities, December cotton futures added 0.07 cent to 67.64 cents per pound.
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