Gold Hits a New 5-Year Low Below $1,100 an Ounce, China Cracks Down on Steelmaker Pollution

Gold hit a fresh five-year low today and China’s top steel-producing city is getting serious about enforcing pollution standards.

Gold Keeps Falling

Gold stretched its losing skid to six sessions and made a fresh five-year low in early trading Monday. At its low point Monday, an ounce of gold dipped below $1,100 to $1,080 — its lowest level since February 2010 — and was down 4.6% before recouping some of its steep losses.

Free Download: July Metal Price Forecast

About 8:30 a.m. ET, an ounce of gold was down $18.80, or 1.7%, to $1113.10. Last week, gold tumbled more than 2%.

Our Lead Forecasting Analyst, Raul De Frutos predicted the yellow metal had further to fall last week.

Tangshen to Crack Down on Pollution

China’s top steel producing city of Tangshan will punish steel companies if they fail to meet tough new pollution standards over the next three months, according to new industry guidelines. This could force closures and help ease a severe capacity glut. China is using tougher environmental rules to help tackle a severe glut of steel capacity that has depressed prices.

Free Download: Latest Metal Price Trends in the July MMI Report