Gold and Silver Outperform in Sea of Red

On Tuesday, gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for August delivery decreased $1.20 to settle at $1,576.20 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures edged 23 cents lower to close at $26.81.

Both precious metals managed to sidestep the equity pullback, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by triple digits for the third consecutive trading day. Late Monday, Moody’s Investors Service changed its outlook for Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to negative from stable, citing their need to support the debt loads of nations such as Spain and Italy.

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More eurozone drama also surfaced as euro officials said that Greece is seen missing debt reduction targets and further debt restructuring would be needed for the insolvent country. The yield on the Spanish 10-year rose to as high as 7.636 percent, while the U.S. dollar made another fresh two-year high against the euro.

In afternoon trading, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) traded flat, while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) edged 0.50 percent lower. Gold miners (NYSEARCA:GDX) such as Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) and Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) fell 1.21 percent and 0.67 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) and Endeavour Silver (NYSE:EXK) both fell more than 1 percent.

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Disclosure: Long EXK, AG, HL, PHYS