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Merrick, NY—Gold is now below $1,100 an ounce. It dropped to $1,080 on Monday in Asian trading, briefly bounced higher by the time U.S. markets opened that day, but returned below the $1,100 mark to $1,092 at press time on Wednesday.  This represents a drop of 16.45%, or $215.10 off the same day trading last year.

Commodities in general are down, as safe-haven investments are less crucial today than a few years ago, and investors are backing off from them in favor of other investments with higher returns, says Bloomberg. According to Kitco.com, the drop is attributable to several factors, not the least of which is the likelihood that a major player (presumably China) is selling off significant amounts of gold. Also exerting downward pressure on gold prices are the strong U.S. economy, strong U.S. dollar, anticipation of an increase in interest rates as signaled by Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, and down-trending crude oil prices. Kitco analyst Jim Wyckoff believes that while gold is short-term oversold on a technical basis, and due for a corrective upside bounce soon, the bear market is here for the foreseeable days and weeks ahead.

But he says that gold may bottom out soon, especially if it hits the important psychological barrier of $1,000 an ounce. A drop below that psychological barrier would then open doors for further declines—with the ultimate downside objective being the $681 seen in 2008.

Watch a video interview with Wyckoff here.

Silver also is in a bear market, though the plunge is not quite as stiff as the gold decline. At press time, silver was trading at $14.75 the ounce. But platinum, to the surprise of analysts, is now trading lower than gold, having broken the $1,000 barrier to $942.49 on Monday and $974 at press time. Palladium was trading at $624, also in a bear market. Rhodium, frequently used to plate white gold jewelry, was trading at $860 the ounce at press time.

Top image: business.financialpost.com