Overview
- Silver briefly topped $80 per ounce overnight before dropping to $70.25 in morning trade, then steadied near $71.87, down roughly 6.9%.
- Gold fell about 4.4% to roughly $4,352 per ounce during the pullback.
- Gold Fields shares were down about 6.6% intraday as the metals reversal hit mining stocks.
- Market commentators cited profit-taking and margin-related selling as drivers of the abrupt swing.
- The decline follows a December surge powered by Fed easing expectations and heavy investor and central‑bank demand, and some analysts still highlight Gold Fields’ multi‑year earnings outlook and modest dividend.