Oil ETFs Pull Back on Syria Plan

NEW YORK (Sept 10)   ETFs tracking gold and oil were among Tuesday’s biggest percentage decliners amid reports that Syria has accepted a Russian proposal to hand over its chemical weapons, a move that could avert a U.S. military strike.

U.S. Oil Fund (USO) slipped 2% while SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fell 1.8%. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was off more than 3%.

President Barack Obama will address the nation on Syria on Tuesday evening.

Oil prices fell to a two-week low as the Syria reports eased concerns that a new Middle East conflict would further disrupt supplies, Reuters reports.

“It seems Obama’s wish is that this would become true, that they can place the chemical weapons under international protection so there is not an immediate attack,” said jarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at SEB, in the article.

Silver prices also dropped to the lowest level in over two weeks.

“The silver price has come under pressure in response to the latest signs of de-escalation in the Syrian crisis,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a Bloomberg report. “The possibility of the Fed already scaling back its bond purchases following the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting next week has also not been excluded, which would weigh on the precious metal prices.”