Gold Spot Price Open: $1,388

Gold Spot Price Close: $1,385

Change in Gold Spot Price:-$3

Silver Spot Price Open: $22.49

Silver Spot Price Close: $22.41

Change in Silver Spot Price:-$0.08

After solid gains were posted on Thursday, it comes as no surprise that gold and silver faltered a bit to close out the week. When all was said and done gold lost a little over 3 dollars while silver was down about 8 cents. Despite this, gold made positive gains for the week while silver remained relatively flat.

One of the major, and most surprising stories of the day was that Germany's economy was reported to have grown in the first quarter of 2013. When compared to the last quarter of 2012, Germany's economy grew by a little more than one tenth of one percent. This may not seem like a lot of growth, but for a region that has been struggling as much as Europe has lately, any growth is substantial growth. In addition to this, it was reported that German business and consumer confidence grew in May. While this news is great for Germans, it was mildly bearish for precious metals and in no way hints that Europe is out of their ongoing economic rough patch.

The US Dollar finished down on Friday after suffering a less than stellar final two days of the week. If it wasn't for the Japanese Nikkei index remaining relatively unchanged, gold and silver might have been able to replicate the gains they made just a day ago. Losses for both gold and silver could have been significantly worse if it weren't for the USD having an off two days.

The beginning of next week will likely be quiet as the United States is taking Monday off in order to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday. When trading picks back up on Tuesday we will be keeping our eyes on the USD as well as the Japanese and US stock markets. Though all three entities finished the week in sub-par fashion, they could very easily begin making solid gains once again.

On the week, gold gained about $20 dollars from opening on Monday to closing on Friday, something that is far better than the nearly $100 they lost only a week ago.