Gold, Silver Shed Gains Amid Euro Zone Downgrade Talks

Gold and silver were down sharply overnight and continued to shed their recent
gains early Tuesday after Standard & Poors said Monday there was a 50-50 chance
it would downgrade the credit ratings of core euro zone group governments,
including France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The euro also was
giving up its recent gains against the dollar. Spot gold was down some 1.1%,
with a bid price of $1,703.80 per ounce and an ask price of 1,704.80 at 10:15
a.m. Gold traded as high as $1,716.10 and as low as $1,701.30. The London
afternoon reference price fix came in at $1,708, according to Kitco market data
. Spot silver was down 1.25%, bid at $31.68 with an ask price of $31.78. The
morning high as of time of writing was $32.05 and the low was $31.52. Mondays
reference price was set at $31.85 in the London a.m. Looking at stock market
action, gold and silver trusts were moving lower. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD
) was showing losses of around 0.8%. The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU ) was
down some 0.8%. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV ) was about 0.35% lower.
Gold and silver mining ETFs were heading south as well. The Market Vectors Gold
Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX ) was around 0.5% lower. The Market Vectors Junior Gold
Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ ) was down 1.2%. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:
SIL ) was down about 0.6%. Gold mining shares were broadly lower, with
Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM ) and NovaGold Resources (AMEX: NG ) breaking from
their peers. Agnico-Eagle Mines was showing gains of around 0.7%. Barrick Gold
Corp. (NYSE: ABX ) was down about 0.2%. Goldcorp (NYSE: GG ) was showing losses
of nearly 0.5%. Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM ) was around 0.6% lower.
NovaGold Resources continued to add to recent sharp gains, volatile but up
between 0.5% and 1.2%. Silver mining shares were mixed, with shares of Hecla
Mining (NYSE: HL ) up sharply. Coeur dAlene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE ) was moving
lower by about 0.8%. Hecla Mining was up more than 3.5%. Pan American Silver
Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS ) was mostly flat. Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW ) was
slightly lower, down less than 0.2%. Silver Standard Resources Inc. (NASDAQ:
SSRI ) was up about 0.65%. As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a
position in any of the aforementioned stocks.