Gold moved steadily higher late Tuesday in electronic Globex trading and popped up near $1,625 overnight during Asia-Pacific trading hours. Silver moved sharply higher after hitting an intraday low Tuesday at just below $40.10 per ounce. Spot silver then moved up to around $40.90 in two sharp moves in electronic trading before leveling off at the $40.80 level during Asia-Pacific trading hours.

After steadily making its way lower, to around $1,617 per ounce midway through London morning trading, gold surged upward, to around $1,628, in early morning N.Y. trade Wednesday, after U.S. durable goods orders for June fell 2.1% and negotiations to raise the U.S. debt ceiling appeared far from being settled. Silver followed suit, spiking up to just shy of $41.50 per ounce from around the $40.60 level.

Spot gold was fixed at a new nominal high of $1,625 per ounce Wednesday afternoon in London. Spot silver was set at $40.81 per ounce, the highest price fix since being set at $43.61 on May 3, according to Kitco market data.

Turning to exchange-listed products, gold and silver ETFs were higher in early trading Wednesday.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was up around 0.4%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was trading roughly in the same range.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was trading around 0.5% higher.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were headed south.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was down about 1.1%.
• The Market Vector Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was off around 2%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was trading about 1.3% lower.

Shares of gold mining majors were moving lower.

• Agnico Eagle Mines (USA) (NYSE:AEM) was down more than 1.3%.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was nearly 1% lower.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was more than 1.5% lower.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was down almost 0.4%.
• NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) was down nearly 0.5%.

Silver mining shares were moving lower, as well.

• Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was off more than 1.5%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was trading more than 1.9% lower.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was down over 2%.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) was nearly 1% lower.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down 3%.

The author does not hold positions in any of the above-mentioned investments.