It was a combination of an exceedingly strong recovery in U.S. equities and the dollar index gaining over a full percent that put enormous selling pressure in the precious metals complex across-the-board.

The current coronavirus crisis continues to dramatically affect financial markets across the board. Not only in the United States but globally. However, the last few days media outlets began to label the crisis as a pandemic rather than an epidemic.

The most recent moves in gold have been unusual to say the least. When US equities originally began its steep decline during the week of February 24, gold traded lower that week. Gold prices opened at $1653 and by the end of the week gold closed at $1566.