As trading in the fourth quarter got underway this week, the bottom quickly fell out in precious metals, with gold and silver each finishing down in Tuesday's session by more than 3 and 5 percent, respectively. When the dust settled, both assets had completely retraced the moves since the June 23rd Brexit vote roiled global markets.
While gold and silver had largely remained range-bound for the better part of the third quarter, lower support gave way as traders threw their gilded babies out with the bathwater as the tape was hit Tuesday morning with the hopes, fears and hype of higher rates.
The Hopes: as witnessed in the relief from the growing desperation in Europe that has seen European bank shares fall sharply with negative yields this year, led by Germany's embattled Deutsche Bank (DB), whose market value has roughly been cut in half since January.
Stoking hope, was a…