Rout Puts Gold on Pace for Largest Quarterly Loss in Decades

NYSE traders
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Gold futures prices are on track for their largest quarterly loss since at least 1974, down 23 percent in the past three months. Similarly, silver has plunged 34 percent in the same period—its largest loss in at least 50 years.

Ticker
Company
Price
% Chg. YTD
Mkt Cap (USD Bil.)
ABX Barrick Gold 15.02 -57 15
GG Goldcorp 22.64 -38 18.4
NEM Newmont Mining 27.47 -41 13.5
AEM Agnico-Eagle Mines 25.72 -51 4.4
BVN Compania De Minas Buenaventura 13.78 -62 3.8
FNV Franco Nev 32.45 -43 4.7
GFI Gold Fields 4.83 -55 3.6
RGLD Royal Gold Inc 39.09 -52 2.5
NGD New Gold Inc 5.76 -48 2.7
AUQ AuRico Gold Inc 4.16 -49 1.2

Bullion traded at a new three-year low of $1,223 on Wednesday, as investors sold the metal ahead of the Fed scaling back its aggressive asset-purchase program later this year.

For the month, the yellow metal is down 11 percent, or its largest decline since September 2011. And from its October high of $1,798.1, gold is down 32 percent.

The recent selloff in gold is putting a halt to a 12-year winning streak in which it rose 513 percent. The current loss this year is the biggest since 1981, when gold fell 33 percent.

While gold is in free fall, many gold miners are getting hit the hardest. The market capitalization for 10 of the largest gold stocks stands at about $70 billion. That's about a third of the value of the total market cap of AT&T.

—By CNBC's Giovanny Moreano. Follow him on Twitter: @giovannymoreano.