Gold and silver were down sharply overnight and continued to shed their recent gains early Tuesday after Standard & Poor’s said Monday there was a 50-50 chance it would downgrade the credit ratings of core euro zone group governments, including France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The euro also was giving up its recent gains against the dollar.

Spot gold was down some 1.1%, with a bid price of $1,703.80 per ounce and an ask price of 1,704.80 at 10:15 a.m. Gold traded as high as $1,716.10 and as low as $1,701.30. The London afternoon reference price fix came in at $1,708, according to Kitco market data.

Spot silver was down 1.25%, bid at $31.68 with an ask price of $31.78. The morning high as of time of writing was $32.05 and the low was $31.52. Monday’s reference price was set at $31.85 in the London a.m.

Looking at stock market action, gold and silver trusts were moving lower.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was showing losses of around 0.8%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was down some 0.8%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was about 0.35% lower.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were heading south as well.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was around 0.5% lower.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was down 1.2%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was down about 0.6%.

Gold mining shares were broadly lower, with Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) and NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) breaking from their peers.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines was showing gains of around 0.7%.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was down about 0.2%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was showing losses of nearly 0.5%.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was around 0.6% lower.
• NovaGold Resources continued to add to recent sharp gains, volatile but up between 0.5% and 1.2%.

Silver mining shares were mixed, with shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) up sharply.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was moving lower by about 0.8%.
• Hecla Mining was up more than 3.5%.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS) was mostly flat.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW) was slightly lower, down less than 0.2%.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (NASDAQ:SSRI) was up about 0.65%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.