The expectation was that 2021 would be a brilliant year for gold. While it may still turn out to be so, the first week of the year is proving excruciating for longs in the yellow metal, stunned by their worst weekly loss since November. Both futures and the spot price of gold, which reflects real-time trades in bullion, lost more than $65 an ounce on the week, or over 3%. The plunge came as investors pulled money from the haven to plow into U.S. Treasury yields, which surged to March highs. That threw a lifeline to the battered Dollar Index — the contrarian trade to gold — which rose above the key 90-level. Gold for February delivery on New York’s Comex settled at $1,835.40 an ounce, down $78.20, or 4.3% on the day. A week ago, February gold hovered at $1,901.60. The drop on the week was the most for gold since the week ended Nov. 7 when Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) announced the 95% efficacy in its Covid-19 vaccines that suddenly became a game changer in fighting the pandemic. This week’s meltdown was even more unusual given that it came as the monthly U.S. employment report showed a loss of 140,000 jobs in December — the first negative growth of its kind since April. Typically, when jobs reports are bad, gold acts as a safe-haven.