Ending Run, Investors Abandon Commodities

By GRAHAM BOWLEY and CLIFFORD KRAUSS
NYT

Commodities prices fell sharply on Thursday, led by the steepest drop in oil prices since the fall of 2008.

Investors dumped commodities like silver and coffee and sugar that had seen a vast — and some said worrying — build up in prices within the last year on expectations of strong global demand.

The sharp sell-offs in part were prompted by fears about a slowdown in economic growth in the United States and around the world.

After four months of surging higher, oil prices plummeted by 9 percent as traders worried that American drivers were beginning to balk at paying nearly $4 a gallon of gasoline. Oil fell below $100 a barrel for the first time in two months.

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