Gold News & Info

Source: American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold gained 0.6% today as news of agreement on austerity measures in Greece propelled the euro to a two-month high against the dollar. Another round of quantitative easing in the UK also supported gold, as did surprising reports of 4.5% inflation in China despite a lower growth forecast. Demand for gold as an inflation hedge by China's exploding middle class helped to triple its gold imports in 2011. Silver tracked gold higher while platinum and palladium were slightly lower.

At the close: April gold gained $9.90 to $1741.20; March silver rose 21 cents to $33.92; April platinum lost $7.60 to $1,660.50; and March palladium lost $5.75 to $710.15 an ounce.

After weeks of missing deadlines and gnashing teeth, Greece's leaders finally agreed to 3.3 billion euros in budget cuts today, opening the door for another huge bailout from the ECB to prevent, at least for now, a chaotic default. Representatives of the IMF, EU, and ECB are working on a package that will try to bring Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio down to 120% by 2020. Under consideration is a plan to expand the range of collateral that banks can use to obtain loans from the ECB, which ECB president Mario Draghi says will provide some 600 to 700 billion euros in additional liquidity to Greece and other debt-strapped eurozone nations.

More easy money was the rule of the day in the UK, too. The Bank of England agreed to another round of quantitative easing, effectively printing another 50 billion pounds ($79 billion) and raising the total to 325 billion pounds so far. As we've said before, monetary accommodation like this is seen as unequivocally bullish for gold prices because extra liquidity debases currencies and increases future inflationary risk.