Gold held in exchange traded products were cut by seven metric tons to the lowest level since April 2010 last week while silver saw the second biggest weekly reduction since June. The reduction occurred despite soothing words about continued stimulus from Janet Yellen who is expected to take over the US Federal Reserve chair in January. A weaker dollar and lower bond yields were offset by the continued rally in equities which erodes the appetite for alternative investments such as gold and silver.
While the S&P500 has yielded a return approaching 30 percent, gold remains stuck in a downtrend which has lasted for more than one year now. Institutional investors, especially the leveraged types such as hedge funds have increasingly been growing impatient with golds prospect resulting in a doubling of the gross-short exposure through futures during the week ending November 12. Although the overall exposure through futures remain net-long, the technical picture looks non-supportive below 1,335 USD/oz given the downtrend from October 2012.