Monday Open: $1,584.00
Weekly High: $1,602.90
Weekly Low: $1,550.80
Friday Close: $1,599.10

Gold prices this week flew up and down amidst significant Eurozone trading talks and U.S. rule change proposals. Gold opened around a steady $1,580 on Monday, dropped to a four-week low on Thursday and began trending back up by Friday.

This entire year has been characterized by volatile gold prices, a significant change from the past decade, which featured a fairly constant upswing, and this week was no different. Monday started in a wait-and-see kind of mode as investors anticipated the week’s events. This mode continued through the beginning of the week as gold stayed in a relatively steady limbo through Wednesday. The European Summit meeting was scheduled to begin on Thursday, so gold became a safe haven investment for some, as some others pulled out of the market.

Last year, gold reached its apex of $1,920 when the European debt crisis hit its full swing, but this year other factors are coming into play to temper a full-fledged uprising of the metal. Wednesday saw positive economic reports in the U.S., followed by two more positive reports on Thursday, and the EU summit began with very low hopes on Thursday. All this led to a fresh four-week low for gold on Thursday.

Yet, after continued talks about economic policy in the Euro Zone, some surprising things came out of the EU Summit that led to a slight rally for gold. These talks included proposals for centralizing banks, easing restrictions on emergency loans, and establishing one single banking supervisor for the EU Bank. Poor economic data and a weak U.S. dollar compounded this news to add to the fresh high of slightly above $1,600.

In other news, Obama’s health care act did not impact gold. There was also an FDIC rule proposal on Wednesday that may have significant implications for gold moving forward. The FDIC is an independent facet of the U.S. government that guards against risky bank dealings, and they ruled that gold would be considered a zero risk asset. Once this proposal is passed into law, it could lead to a significant bull market for gold up ahead.