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Summary Gold, silver and other commodities tumbled amid a global sell-off in financial markets.
Gold fell $66.40, or 3.7 percent, to $1,741.70 an ounce. Silver, a precious metal that has wider demand for industrial production, plummeted $3.89, or 9.6 percent, to $36.45. Each metal is now up about 20 percent for the year.Analysts said that much of the selling was driven by margin calls for hedge funds and other big investors. Were seeing hedge funds that have to raise cash, and to do that they have to sell what has been working for them so far this year, said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaffers Investment Research.Other commodities fell by more than 1 percent. Crude oil was down more than 6 percent.
