The sell-off in the gold market is accelerating as midday approaches Friday.
Prices are sharply lower and hit a nine-week low as heavy technical selling is featured, including sell stop orders being triggered on the way down.
Fundamentally, a robust U.S. jobs report Friday morning has many market watchers now thinking the Federal Reserve will move to raise U.S. interest rates sooner rather than later–possibly as soon as June. The other major bearish element for the gold and silver markets is the strong rally in the U.S. dollar index, which hit an 11.5-year high on Friday. April Comex gold futures were last down $23.80 an ounce at $1,172.30.
