"The minutes of the latest meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee were released Thursday afternoon and they somewhat surprisingly revealed some FOMC members believe that quantitative easing of U.S. monetary policy should be wound down during 2013. That spooked the precious metals market bulls and gave the U.S. dollar index another boost higher. The past four years of very easy U.S. monetary policy have been an underlying bullish factor for the raw commodity sector, including gold and silver." From kitco.com

The key in here is supporting the dollar in the 79.00 to 79.50 area. Below that level a mini-collapse may take place and the handlers know it quite well. Why else would they be hammering gold through their bullion banks for the past two weeks. All This started with the reporting of a mysterious seller in the Asian market in after-hours trading. It is hoped this amateur act of trying to bluff gold lower abruptly ends.