It’s been a rough week for gold. Prices fell for a seventh day in a row Friday morning, marking the worst slump since March 2009, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. By mid-morning gold futures were trading at $1,362 an ounce, down almost 2% from the previous close and 28% from the September 2011 high of $1,920.

Related: Gold Tumbles Again: Is the Era of Gold Over?

Explanations for the latest dive range from the strengthening U.S. dollar to the shrinking holdings of gold exchange-traded funds, which are not offset by increased demand from India and China.

The latest drop extend's gold’s plummet in mid-April to just below $1,400 an ounce, which put the yellow metal technically in bear territory.

Meanwhile, commodities guru Jim Rogers, in an interview with The Daily Ticker, maintains that gold’s move down was not unexpected.

Related: Gold Prices 'Still Very Inflated': Talking Numbers' Brian Sullivan

“Whenever things go down, people look for reasons,” says the famed investor and Streets

J.C. Penney (JCP), the beleaguered department store chain, reported a net loss of $348 million, or $1.58 per share, for the first quarter, more than double its loss from the same quarter last year. Total sales were down 16.4% to $2.67 billion and the company’s gross profit margin fell nearly 7 percentage points to 30.8% of sales.

Penney CEO Myron Ullman, who returned to the company after his successor Ron Johnson was fired in April, said he will reverse some of the controversial decisions that Johnson implemented during his 17-month tenure. Penney’s will reinstitute its promotions and bring back popular labels like St. John's Bay, he said. Ullman also warned analysts on Thursday that his fixes would not return the company to profitability overnight as Penney was emerging from an “abyss.”

Johnson, the Apple retail guru who was paid millions to revamp the retailer, had eliminated discounts and coupons and built upscale pop-up shops in Penney's 300 stores. Penney’s shoppers rebuffed the