Gold slides Tuesday

Gold futures moved lower Tuesday, with stocks on Wall Street making a late dash to higher ground. Stocks were mixed on Wall Street within an hour of the market, but jumped after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed had options left to add stimulus to the economy. Gold prices shed $34.60 or 2 percent to reach $1,623.10 per troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Stock Exchange. Oil prices went south overnight and held through the day, dropping 18 cents in late trading to $77.79 per barrel. The euro rose to $1.3354 from Monday's $1.3176. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 76.82 yen from Monday's 76.64 yen. The dollar was mostly weaker in Asia and Europe with the dollar index off 0.72 percent to 79.11.