Gold is solidly lower in early U.S. trading Wednesday, pressured by rallies in most major world stock markets today that have pulled investor interest away from the safe-haven metal. An upbeat U.S. durable goods orders report Wednesday morning also put more selling pressure on gold. However, there is an entire U.S. trading session that lies ahead, and no one knows what the end of the day will bring. A weakening in the U.S. stock market as today’s session progresses would likely boost the gold market. December Comex gold was last down $13.30 at $1,125.10 an ounce. September Comex silver hit a six-year low this morning and was last down $0.465 at $14.14 an ounce.
The eyes of the market place remain focused on China, which has the world’s second-largest economy, which is now in trouble. China’s central bank injected $22 billion into its financial system Wednesday after their markets closed, in order to prop up its flailing stock market. Government officials also restricted trading in stock index futures, reports said. After a volatile session that saw prices trade on both sides of unchanged, China’s Shanghai stock index ended down 1.3% on the day. However, Japan’s Nikkei stock index rebounded and rose 3% on Wednesday.
