Gold 
”The escalating euro zone debt crisis, combined with a wide array of economic concerns, sent the blue chips diving by more than 270 points after the opening bell on Tuesday on the heels of a steep selloff last week.
As of 9:32 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sunk 272 points, or 2.4%, to 10,969, the S&P 500 tumbled 25.5 points, or 2.3%, to 1,147 and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 58.5 points, or 2.4%, to 2,421.
Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has sparked concerns on Wall Street in recent months, and have once again pressured world markets. Several euro zone countries such as Greece and Italy have high levels of public debt as compared to total economic output, prompting concerns over how they will be able to pay back their debt, especially considering a weaker global economic situation.
Greece has already needed two rounds of emergency bailouts from other euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund. However, recent doubts over the Mediterranean country’s commitment to austerity measures, an important contingency of the bailout, have increased the risk that some lenders may refuse funding. Indeed, the rescue has sparked political fights in Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany.
Thousands protested in Italy on Tuesday against a roughly $64 billion austerity package that is being debated in Senate there. The country, which has $2.6 trillion public debt, agreed to eliminate its deficit by 2013 in exchange for the European Central Bank making large-scale purchases of its debt to cut down borrowing costs. Initially, it seemed as though the package would easily pass, but recent political drama has made the passage more questionable.”
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