Gold News & Info

Source: American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold closed lower today, notching its first losing session in four as the eurozone debt crisis returned with a vengeance. Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of Austria and France from AAA to AA+, and talks broke down in Greece over the structuring of its bond "haircuts." As a result, equities and the euro turned lower, while the dollar broke sharply higher, pressuring the gold price. Overall, gold gained nearly 1% for the week while silver picked up 3%. Bloomberg reports that sentiment among gold traders is at its most bullish in two months as more safe-haven inflows are expected in Europe and China's gold imports reach an all-time high.

At Comex close: February gold dropped $16.90 to $1,630.80; March silver lost 60 cents to $29.52; March palladium slid $6.2 to $635.05; and April platinum fell $11.30 to $1,488.80 an ounce.

France and Austria are not the only eurozone nations to be penalized by S&P. Italy will be cut by two steps to BBB+, according the Financial Times, Slovakia by one step to A, and both Spain and Portugal could also be downgraded. France's ding will be the most painful, however: as Europe's second largest economy behind Germany, it's a major backer of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which funds the bailouts of Ireland, Portugal, and Greece. The EFSF credit rating will suffer, too, making its rescue work more costly and difficult. In addition, Greece looks like it could still default because of disagreements about the amount investors and banks will lose on their bonds. So, only one day after Italy and Spain sparked a glimmer of hope with better-than-expected bond auctions, new fears are afoot about the ultimate sustainability of the eurozone.