Gold Falls, Silver Dives 2.6%

Gold dipped $2.80 to $1,504.40 per ounce this morning, rebounding after trading under under the $1,500 level overnight.  The U.S. dollar moved lower yet again ahead of Tuesday’s open and in advance of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which begins today in Washington D.C.

Silver plunged a steep 2.6% to $45.67 per ounce.  Helping to grease the decline was news after the close yesterday that the CME Group raised margin requirements on silver futures contracts by 9%.  The recent outperformance of silver versus gold has been dramatic as the gold-silver ratio hit a multi-decade low during Monday’s trading session of 30.4 to 1.

S&P 500 stock futures climbed 6.40 to 1337.20 while oil and copper both traded near unchanged at $112.22 per barrel and $4.32 per pound, respectively.

(Source: http://www.goldalert.com/2011/04/gold-falls-silver-dives-2-6/)