We're all familiar with the line, “All that glitters is not gold.” But J.R.R. Tolkien in his trilogy, Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring) put it a different way. He wrote that “All that is gold does not glitter.”

The last few years have proven Tolkien to be right. Gold has seen its days of glory wilting like the petals of a rose. Gone are the days when gold bullions were coveted as precious possessions. And those gold earrings that were always priced way above your pocket are no longer the dreams of only the wealthy.

Gold today is affordable. The drop in the price of gold seems unstoppable and where it will settle is anybody's guess.

And it isn't only gold. The entire commodity sector is in a tailspin and has fallen 17 percent the last three months and an unprecedented 42 percent in the past two years.

Gold and oil prices have taken a particularly hard beating.

Gold prices ended the month of July down roughly 6.7% at approximately $1095 an ounce. The precious metal, which failed to pick up throughout the Grexit crisis, has been falling out of favor for some time now and the fluctuations in the price of gold have resulted in an increase in the amount of gold futures trading.

Higher gold prices directly affect world currencies as there is a significant correlation between gold prices and currency values especially with the currencies of major gold-producing countries such as Canada, South Africa and Australia.

Oil Prices

When it comes to oil, the picture doesn't look much healthier. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that benchmark U.S. oil futures for September delivery was nearing the six-year low hit in March and contracts for delivery in later years were taking an even bigger hit, with prices for 2016 and 2017 already trading below their March lows. Analysts take this as an indication that investors, traders and oil companies see the global glut of crude oil continuing beyond 2015.