New York gold futures

Apparently investors' appetite for higher risk portfolios like stocks undermined the gold market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 200.72 points, or 2.5 percent, to 8,375.45. As usual, strong gains in the equity market siphoned off money from the gold market.
Surprisingly the sharp slide in Treasuries late in the trading session failed to inspire the gold bulls. Market continued to see profit taking off the recent highs.
Gold futures for April delivery fell 11.40 U.S. dollars, or 1.3percent, to 890 dollars an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract closed at 910.70 dollars on Jan. 26.

Exports straight monthly fall

Last month, the exports and imports volumes were $111.2 billion and $72.2 billion - and in November, they were $114.9 billion and $74.9 billion.
The falling trend in exports is likely to continue in the first two quarters of this year, some Beijing-based trade experts said on Monday.
Su Chang, macroeconomic analyst with China Economic Business Monitor, said foreign trade could decline further and would pick up when the US economy showed signs of recovery.
The country is likely to see "almost zero growth" in exports in the first quarter of this year, and perhaps "a fall of 6 percent" in the second quarter, Su said.
The drop in exports has been attributed to falling demand in the European Union (EU) and the US, the country's top two trade partners.