Commodities join global stocks falling in week as gold drops 7%

China's weakening economic expansion and slowing earnings growth in the US sent copper into a bear market and gold to the biggest weekly drop in a year and a half, while global stocks fell the most in 10 months.

Gold futures slid seven per cent to $1,395.60 an ounce during the week and copper retreated 5.6 per cent in London for the largest decline since December 2011. The Standard & Poor's GSCI Index of 24 commodities fell 2.5 per cent, a third weekly slump. The MSCI All-Country World Index of 45 markets fell 2.2 per cent, paring the decline yesterday with a 0.7 per cent gain. Treasuries rose, while the euro and yen weakened versus the dollar. Concern the US Federal Reserve is considering reducing stimulus just as markets enter a period when equities have fallen in the last three years spurred some of the biggest losses in 2013. The retreat follows three straight quarters of gains for stocks globally and increases for gold in every year since 2001.

Earnings season
Profits at S&P 500 companies probably dropped 1.1 per cent in the first three months of the year, the first decline since 2009, according to more than 11,000 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America Corp reported profit that missed projections after shortfalls in mortgage banking and trading. International Business Machines Corp, the largest computer- services provider, missed analysts' earnings estimates for the first time since 2005 as the company struggles to boost hardware sales.