By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com -- Gold prices tumbled below $1,500 a troy ounce to their lowest since August as more and more investors were forced to liquidate positions due to liquidity stresses elsewhere in their portfolios.
By 7.55 AM ET (1155 GMT), gold futures for delivery on the Comex exchange were down 3.6% at $1,461.90 an ounce. Spot gold was down 4.4% at $1,462.20 an ounce.
Silver futures fared even worse, falling 16.5% to $12.06 an ounce, while platinum futures fell 16% to $632.10 and palladium futures fell 3.9% to $1,450 an ounce.
The moves came as stock markets threatened to open sharply lower, with trading in futures contracts on the three major U.S. stock indices all halted, limit down. That's despite the decision by the Federal Reserve on Sunday to cut interest rates to near zero and resume quantitative easing, policies that were strongly supportive for gold prices during the last financial crisis.