Gold, Silver, Miners Continue to Fall Tuesday

Gold, silver and mining stocks continued to fall Tuesday morning as the
Commerce Department reported a 0.2% monthly and 6.7% year-over-year rise in
November retail sales . Though less than forecast, Novembers was the sixth
consecutive monthly increase, and Octobers monthly gain was revised upward to
0.6%. U.S. business inventories rose 0.8% in October, the largest gain in five
months , which is another encouraging sign for 4Q GDP. Spot gold was down nearly
0.3% at 10:50 a.m., with a bid price of $1,660.60 per ounce and an ask price of
$1,661.60, having traded as high as $1,679.30 and as low as $1,658.60. The
London afternoon reference price fix came in at $1,682.50, according to Kitco
market data . A Commerzbank analyst said continued strength in the U.S. dollar
is one factor underlying golds weakness, according to a BullionVault market
report. The next critical support level for gold is around $1,650 an ounce,
according to a market note issued by Swiss gold bullion refiner MKS. Spot silver
was down just more than 0.1%, bid at $31.25 with an ask price of $31.35. The
morning high as of time of writing was $32.11 per ounce, and the low was $31.10.
Mondays reference price was set at $31.34 in the London a.m. In Europe, the
European Financial Stability Fund successfully completed its first auction of
91-day bills, selling the maximum amount, 1.97 billion euros ($2.6 billion). The
proceeds will be used to finance rescue loans to cash-strapped euro zone
governments. U.S. market participants are awaiting word from the Federal Reserve
following its last scheduled meeting of 2011. Monetary policy analysts expect
that at 2:30 p.m., the Fed will revise its policy of maintaining interest rates
at near zero, as the need for another round of quantitative easing has been
diminishing. There was strong demand for new three-year Treasury notes at
auction yesterday, and the Treasury is auctioning $21 billion in 10-year notes
today. Turning to stock exchange trading, gold and silver trusts continued to
move lower. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD ) was showing losses of about 0.6%.
The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU ) was down around 0.7%. The iShares Silver
Trust (NYSE: SLV ) was moving lower by about 0.8% Gold and silver mining ETFs
were moving lower as well. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX ) was
moving lower, down around 1.2%. The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:
GDXJ ) was down some 1.5%. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL ) was down
nearly 0.2%. Gold mining shares also were showing losses. Agnico-Eagle Mines
(NYSE: AEM ) was showing losses of nearly 1%. Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX ) was down
about 1%. Goldcorp (NYSE: GG ) was showing losses of more than 1.4%. Newmont
Mining (NYSE: NEM ) was around 1.1% lower. NovaGold Resources (AMEX: NG ) was
more than 3% lower. Silver mining shares continued to fall, though Pan American
Silver s (NASDAQ: PAAS ) shares were standing out by showing sharp gains. No
news has been issued by the company. Coeur dAlene Mines (NYSE: CDE ) was moving
lower, down some 1.4%. Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL ) was down more than 0.6%. Pan
American Silver was up about 1.85%. Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW ) was showing
losses of 1.5%. Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ: SSRI ) was down around 0.75%.
As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the
aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this
report.