Commodities investors felt the pain during the first week of May, as the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs set off heavy selling in a wide spectrum of hard assets from precious and base metals to oil and gasoline. - Investors who, in the first four months of the year, basked in the expansive side of silver's famous volatility were shaken by a sharp price contraction in May. A 31-year, record-high London fix of US$48.70 per oz. achieved on the last trading day of April turned into US$34.20 just a week later, for a 30% drop. Silver investors' waes were compounded by a triple whammy of terrible technical indicators, tightened margin requirements and heavy selling by large hedge funds. Speculators trading silver futures on the COMEX have seen margin requirements raised five times since April 25. Regulators seemed intent on cooling things off, after silver futures had soared an astounding 28% in April compared to 8% for gold, and had risen 57% in the year to April 29, compared to 9% for gold.
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机译：大宗商品投资者在5月的第一周感到痛苦，因为美国海军海豹突击队杀死了乌萨马·本·拉登（Osama bin Laden），引发了从贵重金属和贱金属到石油和汽油等各种硬资产的大量抛售。 -在今年的头四个月里，沉迷于白银著名波动性的广阔面的投资者在5月的急剧价格下跌中动摇了。伦敦定下的31年高位48.70美元/盎司。一周后，在4月最后一个交易日达到的交易价格为34.20美元，下降了30％。可怕的技术指标三重打击，严格的保证金要求以及大型对冲基金大量抛售，加剧了白银投资者的忧虑。自4月25日以来，在COMEX交易白银期货的投机者已经提高了五倍的保证金要求。监管者似乎有意降温，此前4月份白银期货飙升了28％，而黄金飙升了8％，而白银期货上涨了57％。截至4月29日的一年中，黄金为9％。
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