Gold Breaks Three Day Losing Streak

Gold broke a three-day losing streak today and traders said the bounce came from better-than-expected economic news out of Europe ... plus a promise by China that it will step in to help the Eurozone out of its troubles.

There were also some developments in Europe that helped lift gold. The French government said its economy grew in the last three months of 2011 and German government said that in the same time period its economy declined but not as much as most analysts expected.

In the U.S. the central bank issued its report on manufacturing in the Northeast. That report showed that factory output in states like New York climbed this month to its highest level in a year and a half.

Another thing that supported gold prices was word that John Paulson a noted hedge fund manager is hanging on to a big part of his gold E-T-F holdings.

One of the unusual things about today's trading is that gold prices rose even as the euro and stocks were declining. That's unusual because in the last few months gold has been following the euro and to a lesser extent the stock market. But today there was a lot of safe-haven buying and that kept gold from following the euro and stocks downhill.