Daily Gold Update

Source: Dr. Bill Musgrave, American Gold Exchange

Austin— Gold added 0.5%, notching three consecutive winning sessions for the first time since early August, on eurozone news and expectations of further Fed easing. Mario Monti's announcement that he plans to resign as Italy's Prime Minister pushed investors toward safe-havens. Monti is widely credited with stabilizing Italy's finances, lowering bond yields, and mitigating the risk of default in Europe's third-largest economy. Stagnation in talks about the U.S. fiscal cliff added to flights to safety. The other precious metals also rallied, with silver gaining 0.7% and sister metals platinum and palladium up 1% each.

At the Comex close: February gold added $8.90 to $1,714.40; March silver picked up 25 cents to $33.38 an ounce. January platinum gained $16.30 to $1,623,30; and March palladium rose $6.75 to $704.75 an ounce.

Traders also increased their positions in gold ahead of this week's FOMC meeting, which is widely expected to result in monthly purchases of $45 billion in Treasuries by the Fed, in addition to the $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities being bought under QE3. This anticipated expansion of monetary easing, already being called QE4, is very bullish for gold because it will further undermine the dollar and increase inflation risk. The first three rounds of QE helped the gold price to double since 2008.