After some initial strength gold prices sagged back in the wake of a sharp slide in oil prices and a recovery bounce in the US equity market. In short, the early flow of US corporate earnings news failed to extend the type of flight to quality concern that was expected by the gold trade early in the session and with the sharp decline in oil prices and the recovery in equity prices, it is clear that overall anxiety levels were on the decline. Surprisingly the Dollar wasn't markedly undermined by the Richmond Fed readings, probably because a $4 to $5 break in crude oil prices is a significantly more important development for the US economy. With the Fed's Plosser seemingly tempering flight to quality concerns on the Freddie/Fannie issue the gold market didn't appear to even consider suggestions from the Fed that uncertainty on the US economy had actually increased over the last 2-3 weeks.