Gold Modestly Higher on Eurozone Treaty Plan

Gold prices eked out a small gain Friday after Eurozone leaders agreed to surrender some of their national fiscal sovereignty to prevent another debt crisis and U.S. economic reports signaled a growing recovery.

News that the Eurozone would fiscally integrate boosted market sentiment. The single currency rose, knocking down the dollar. European stocks posted big gains, with two of the top three stock indexes up more than two percent.

European leaders stabilized the situation, taking away fears the euro would crumble, but gold still lacks catalysts for going much higher, Frank Lesh, a strategist and trader with FuturesPath in Chicago, told MarketWatch. Moreover, volumes were thin, he said. There's really not too much you can do now that you can't do in January.

The Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit shrank in October. Also, U.S. consumer confidence climbed to its highest level in six months, according to a Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan report.

That boosted U.S. stocks: In late afternoon trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.58 percent, the Nasdaq 100 gained 2.02 percent and the S&P 500 rose 1.73 percent.

Gold for February delivery edged up during Friday's session by $3.40 to settle at $1,716.80, while spot gold fell 44 cents to $1,713.99

Silver for March delivery rose during the session 72 cents to close at $32.25, while spot silver rose 39 cents to $32.24.

Despite the day's gain gold ended the week down 1.97 percent. Silver for the week lost 1.3 percent and platinum fell 2.1 percent from the level at which it began this week.

Palladium jumped $11.20 to $686.50, or 1.7 percent and for the week it posted a strong 6.29 percent gain.