Premier Partners Group: Gold prices continued their recent bullish run Monday, hitting over $1600 an ounce. Investors shunned stocks on worries over debt in Europe and the US, as gold hit a record of $1605. This caps a 10 day winning streak for gold prices, although futures for August delivery pulled back slightly in early trade today.

Premier Partners Group: All indices in the US traded lower Monday, on continuing fears over the US economy. August 2nd is the deadline for lawmakers in the US to decide whether the debt ceiling will be raised or not. Markets in Asia followed suit in early trade Tuesday, with all indices in negative territory.

Premier Partners Group: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called Greece’s debt sustainable but still on a knife’s edge. The IMF said that Greece must now implement their austerity measures to get back on a sound financial footing. The news came after reports that 8 European banks failed a stress test on Friday.

Premier Partners Group: Markets across Asia with trading lower early Monday, on continuing concerns over European debt and the possibility of a slowdown in US growth. All markets were in negative territory except the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, which showed a slight gain. This followed on from Friday’s late rally in the US, which averted the markets from their worst week in the last year.