Can a Euro-zone crisis be averted?

”Gold Slides, Silver Rises; Is Europe’s Turnaround Really Sustainable?

With hopes rising that European leaders will work out an agreement to forge a new era of austerity, investors are dipping their toes back into equities and other riskier asset classes to start a new week. Meanwhile, so-called ‘safe-haven’ avenues such as gold and the U.S. dollar are pointing down.

Gold for February delivery on the Comex, the most active contract, was most recently falling by $15 to $1,763.30 an ounce.  At the same time, silver was fighting to build some positive momentum.  The March contract was up 3 cents to $32.71 an ounce.  But most other contracts were trading in negative territory, although with less volume.”

”Other analysts are again cautioning that markets could swing quickly this week as events unfold in Europe.  Already this morning, investors are hearing that fresh data indicated the euro-zone’s economy was moving into a period of serious contraction.  Still, precious metals markets are most likely to move to events leading up to Friday’s summit meetings of European Union leaders.  Today, leaders in Germany and France are set to start preparing by discussing joint proposals.

‘The gold market this week will be shaped by the many political meetings due to take place, which are likely to focus on the sovereign debt crisis,’ analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a research note. ‘Friday’s European Union summit is the most important meeting over the next few days, though we can expect a long wait before a permanent solution to the crisis is found.’ ”