After months of setting record after record, the price of gold plunged $104, or 5.6 percent, Wednesday to finish at $1,757 per ounce. That was the biggest percentage drop in nearly 3 1/2 years and a blow to investors who thought the metal could go only one way _ up. "Gold was considered a safe haven for years because it wasn't popular, but now it's popular," said Cetin Ciner, a professor of finance at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. "You can't have a fad and a safe haven at the same time." The drop Wednesday came on news that orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose 4 percent in July, which was ... (full story)