Gold Spot Price Open: $1,222

Gold Spot Price Close: $1,228

Change in Gold Spot Price: +$6

Silver Spot Price Open: $19.46

Silver Spot Price Close: $19.61

Change in Silver Spot Price: +$0.15

Gold and silver posted minor gains on Thursday, gains that are mostly being credited to short-covering after yesterday's losses. When all was said and done, gold gained around six dollars while silver was able to manage a 15 cent gain.

The European Central Bank convened for their monthly meeting today and as was expected no major shifts in policy came as a result. The ECB maintained interest rates and president Mario Draghi's comments were seen as neither overly hawkish nor overly dovish. An upbeat manufacturing report out of Germany indicated that industrial output in the EU's leading economy rose by nearly 2% in November after falling by a little more than 1% in October. As has been the case for the past few years, the German economy is the only consistently reliable source of positive economic data.

Consumer confidence in Europe is also on the rise after a recent report indicated that the region's consumers were more confident in their economy now than they have been at any point in the past two years.

An inflation report out of China quelled some fears that inflationary pressures in the region were on the rise. China's consumer price inflation was reported as rising by about 2.5% in December on an annual basis. This number was down from November's price inflation rise of 3% or so on an annual basis.

Tomorrow will bring the first full week of January to a close and will give investors the weekend to mull over the plethora of economic data released this week. As we head deeper into January you can expect the geopolitical scene in the US to pick up as lawmakers still have to put the finishing touches on a budget while also having to worry about the upcoming debt ceiling deadline.