* Customers looking to unload coins and jewelry flood local dealers as prices see their biggest decline in 30 years.
Gold buyer Timothy Geannetti knew something was up at about 2 a.m. Monday, when several alarms went off on his cellphone.
"I said, either one of my friends is in trouble or it's the gold price," said Geannetti, who owns Bergen County Gold Buyers of Lodi and two other precious metal buying stores in New York and Pennsylvania.
Geannetti, who had a phone app set to go off if the gold price fell below $1,450, quickly learned that the sell-off that started Friday was continuing. By Monday's close at $1,361 — ending the biggest one-day decline in 30 years — it had plunged almost $200 over the two days and was trading below $1,400 an ounce for the first time since February 2011.
The steep fall in most commodity prices led the stock market to its worst day this year, as worries about the global economy resurfaced. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 265 points, its biggest loss in five months. It was the biggest drop for the stock market since Nov. 7 — the day after Election Day — last year.
The first trigger came from China. News that the world's second-largest economy slowed unexpectedly, expanding 7.7 percent in the first three months of the year, well below forecasts of 8 percent or better, pummeled copper, oil and other commodities. Crude oil slid $2.58 to finish at $88.71 in New York trading.
In the stock market, companies that produce oil and mine for metals fared the worst. A slowdown in China, a huge importer of basic materials like copper, would stymie profits at those companies.
"The weak data out of China is spooking a lot of investors," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at the brokerage BTIG.
Geannetti said customers were clearly rattled by the price declines. Instead of the nine customers he had last Monday, a typical start to the week, he had 16 by 4 p.m. Monday – with his store open for another four hours.
His customers, who sold coins, rings, bracelets and other gold and silver jewelry, were looking to get rid of them before the price fell further, Geannetti said.
