Merrill Lynch makes futures slip

Gold futures fell away slightly today (October 24th), with mortgage-related problems at Merrill Lynch pulling stock futures down across the board.

Suffering a $7.9 billion write-down for the value of troubled subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations, the group has reported a $2.3 billion loss from its continuing third quarter operations.

The effects on futures were swift, with gold for December delivery falling $3.20 to $759.90 in New York, dropping away from its $763.10 close at the end of Tuesday trading.

Merrill Lynch's figures were surprising – it was the investment bank's first loss in six years, suffered on the back of bad mortgage bets and risk management that has come home to roost.

People looking to buy gold were hesitant in response to the news, with the precious metal shedding value and confirming the correlation that it has failed to shake off with equities.

Bullion investors will, however, be confident that gold for immediate delivery and in futures form will soon return to the price growth that has seen it shoot up and stabilize at around $760 per ounce.