Friday saw gold futures poised to gain in value as trading dropped off on the final business day before the winter holidays begin.
Despite uplifting U.S. economic data, the sovereign debt crisis' damaging tendencies are looming large and ever present. The scourge is unlikely to be resolved any time soon and will continue attacking euro zone banks, public finance systems and markets. Bond yields in Spain and Italy increased on Thursday amid government efforts to control the rises.
Friday morning, gold futures sank 0.24%, a $3.80 U.S. fall to $1,606.80 U.S. per troy ounce.
Markets continue to be influenced by last week's sharp fall in U.S. jobless benefit claims, which dropped to their lowest level in three-and-a-half years.
As of Thursday, the yellowish metal was up about 13% since the beginning of the year as the precious metal drives toward an 11th straight year of annual gains.
