Monday Open: $1,581.20
Weekly High: $1,600.10
Weekly Low: $1,556.30
Friday Close: $1,589.40

Gold took a minor upswing followed by an equal downturn this week, followed by another upswing to regain balance, opening around $1,580 to close at just about the same price. This week continued the major pattern of gold this year, with modest (under $50) fluctuations, though no major changes. Many experts believe that gold will hover around the $1,500 mark amidst all the economic changes happening in the U.S. and Europe, and if it does so, it remains a fairly stable investment. Reaching the $1,600 mark is always a slight cause for celebration, and it just touched it again this week.

Gold continues to rise inversely to the dollar, and Monday opened with a strong dollar, pushing gold down. Tuesday marked a volatile day, as morning news reported dollar losses, pushing gold up to exactly $1,600, then dropping back down $40 as updated information became available and the euro actually spiked tremendously. This proved to be the strongest inverse correlation between gold and the dollar in almost two months, since the dollar reached nearly a two-year high.

Still, gold is hovering in the safe range, which falls between $1,550 and $1,630.

Afshin Nabavi, head of MKS Finance, commented on this recent price range for gold. He said on Tuesday, “It looks like $1,630 is pretty much a brick wall, while on the downside, $1,550 is equally strong support. So unless something extraordinary happens, we will be stuck in this range…Everyone wants to get involved in gold, but they have been disappointed several times, so I think we need a confirmation that gold is really going somewhere, and that will only happen when it gets above $1,630, only then will we have some investment come back into the market.”

As for now, gold is trading in a fairly safe, yet limbo, state.

Wednesday and Thursday saw similar hesitations against the dollar, as investors await the Fed’s next move. Recently, the dollar has been performing well and the Fed hasn’t eased up on economic restrictions, keeping gold investors on their toes. More support has lately been headed in the greenback’s direction. China and Hong Kong have experienced some recent slowing of their economy, and investors waited expectantly all week to hear news of China’s refinancing policies.

So, as much as the price of gold dropped inversely to the dollar at the beginning of the week, it gained an equal amount in response to Friday’s news that China’s economic growth has fallen short of expectations. This report came a day after the Fed’s minutes reported no change in policy on Thursday, and gold saw a modest spike as investors took hope in the yellow metal’s recovery against a flailing yen. China reported a sixth consecutive quarter of losses, so Friday ended with a net weekly gain of about $6, as many believe the economic reports might spur the Chinese government into easing monetary rates.