Fear of new Covid-19 strain brings down metals, oil and gold prices

Oil plummeted the most in seven weeks, with investors fleeing the market as a mutation of Covid-19 discovered in the United Kingdom threatened more lockdowns across Europe. Gold also erased most of its early gains, under pressure from an advancing dollar as fears of a new coronavirus strain roiled markets.
 
Copper and other industrial metals prices, too, sagged as the dollar became stronger: The dollar index was nearly 0.5 per cent to 90.43, rebounding from multi-year lows.
 
Bitcoin — which has an inconsistent relationship with the traditional market — too, dropped as much as 6 per cent on