Gold soars as Dow dives

May 10, 2010 - Gold soared Friday to new record highs as the Dow dived to record lows.

Gold’s closing $1210.40 Friday was:

- the highest so far in 2010

- the highest since December 3, 2009

- the closest to its all-time high of $1226.10 posted in December 2009.

On the other hand, the Dow ended Friday at 10380.43 points, registered a drop of 139.89 points (1.3%) from the previous day. It first plunged by as much as 1,000 points Thursday below the 10,000 mark before recovering to minimize the loss at 348 points. The drop was:

- a 771.40-point decline in just four days, the lowest close since February 26

- the worst percentage decline since March 2009

- the 628.18 points drop for the week was the steepest since the week of 0ctober 6-10 in 2008

- 7.4% below its April 26 closing high

- lower than when the year began for the first time.

News about the situation in other markets was just as discouraging. Nasdaq went down 54 points (2.3%), said to be its lowest in two months. Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 17.27 points (1.5%).

Markets in Europe and Asia tumbled as well. In France, the CAC was down 4.6%, in London the FTSE was down by 2.6% and the German DAX by 4.6%. In Japan, the Nikkei lost 3.1% and in Hong Kong, Hang Seng lost 1%.

Analysts observed that investors again sought out safer investments in nervous response to the erratic stock prices movement. As usual, these investors turned to gold.

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Stewart Lawson

Senior Staff Writer - Certified Gold Exchange