Gold and silver have gotten off to a slow start in the early parts of this week. After posting a double digit loss on Monday, gold bounced back a bit in the overnight and early morning hours only to fall right back down. There were very few big stories to move metals drastically in one direction or another but that did not stop gold from opening on Tuesday down almost ten dollars. Some economic indicators allude to the fact that the European debt crisis might be cooling off and is not as much of a concern to investors as it was only a few months ago. Silver opened trading on Tuesday down over 30 cents.

New Outlook on Europe

According to Reuters, Gold, thus far in 2013, has fallen by about 14% which is a completely unprecedented number. Most of these losses can be directly tied to a stronger US Dollar, but an improving economic situation in Europe is not helping the yellow metal’s cause either.

Some of the good news out of Europe is that industrial production across the region rose by a whole percentage point this past March. This is the biggest such rise in industrial output in about a year and a half.

A recent Spanish government bond auction yielded much better numbers than anyone had anticipated which is great news for one of the most disappointing countries in Europe over the course of the past year or so. This does not mean that Spain, or the rest of Europe for that matter, are out of the woods yet, but progress is progress. Hopefully lower interest rates across the region are able to help rampant unemployment among a plethora of other problems.

Other World News

The release of the latest Australian budget hinted at the fact that easier monetary policy may be necessary for the nation’s economy to stay afloat. The release of the budget prompted the Australian dollar to hit its lowest point in almost a full year.

According to Marketwatch.com, prices paid for imports in the US fell by about half of a percentage point this past April. Going hand in hand with this news, prices paid for US exports fell by about 3 tenths of a percentage point shy of 1 percent. The lower prices paid for imports are most likely due to the fact that oil prices have been relatively subdued as of late. Gold and silver have been part of a downward trend for over a half year at the present moment and investors are wondering what has to give in order for values of both metals to return to the points they were at this time last year.

What Else to Watch For

It seems as though precious metals cannot catch a break anywhere boosted in the fact that futures prices for June are down just as current spot values are. As for the rest of the week, investors and market watchers are going to be anxiously awaiting any news in regards to the end of Quantitative Easing. Rumors have been flying that the easy money policy implemented by the Fed is going to brought to an end, but so far there has been no word as to when or how.