Gold skids Friday

Gold prices slipped on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday as budget talks stalled in Washington. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said talks with the White House had come to a "stalemate," MarketWatch reported. A failure to resolve differences on the budget would result in an austerity budget agreed to in 2011 that is now commonly referred to as a "fiscal cliff," as it is predicted the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes would lead to a second U.S. recession. For the time being, gold traders are reacting negatively to the fiscal cliff. Should the economy be jolted into a second recession, gold currently looks as if it will take a hit. Gold ended Friday's session down $13 or 0.75 percent to close at $1,716.50 per troy ounce. Silver shed 95 cents or 2.75 percent to reach $33.49. The dollar index was flat, rising 0.02 percent to 80.23 in the International Exchange. The dollar rose to 82.46 yen from Thursday's 82.12 yen. It was otherwise mixed in Asia. In Europe, the dollar was also mixed. The euro rose to $1.2985 from Thursday's $1.2979.