Gold News & Info

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Gold futures notched their fifth consecutive losing session on Wednesday, unable to get much support amid a sharply stronger dollar and thin year-end trade. The February gold futures contract fell $31.40, or 2%, to settle at $1,564.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest closing level for a most active gold contract since mid-July, according to data from FactSet Research. Prices had fallen $10.50 on Tuesday to tally a five-session loss of 3.3%. In December, they�ve lost 11%, but it�s on track for a gain of about 10% on the year. The dollar index , which tracks the U.S. unit�s performance against six major currencies, climbed to 80.471 from 79.792 late Tuesday. Read more on euro�s pullback below $1.30.

�Despite improvements in the U.S. economy, there is no guarantee that the [Federal Reserve] and the [European Central Bank] will be sufficiently successful in preventing a euro meltdown,� said Richard Hastings, a strategist at Global Hunter Securities. �Major structural themes refuse to exit the world stage � this is clear,� he said, adding that those include the euro crisis and U.S. budgetary issues. Still, with Dec. 31 looming, �the current mood of thin cautious trade looks set to continue as traders position themselves for year-end,� James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, wrote in a research memo. See full story.