Gold and silver were heading lower Wednesday morning ahead of a Fed statement regarding U.S. monetary policy and news from the G-20 summit in Mexico.

Spot gold was 0.96% lower as of 11:09 p.m., bid at $1,602.40 an ounce. The morning high reached $1,610, with the low back below $1,600, at $1,593.60, according to Kitco market data. The London afternoon reference price was fixed at $1,601, $24.50 an ounce higher than Tuesday’s price fixing.

Spot silver was moving lower as well, down 0.56% and bid at $28.26. The day’s high thus far was $28.43 and the low below $28 at $27.91. The London a.m. reference price was fixed at $28.31, 50 cents lower than Tuesday’s reference price.

Economists anticipate that the Fed will announce expanding “Operation Twist” beyond $400 billion following the close of the FOMC meeting today.

Succumbing to pressure from within and without, Germany and eurozone leaders agreed to use emergency funds from the European Stability Mechanism and European Financial Stability Facility to buy bonds of troubled member nations in the open market. The proposal to buy Spanish and Italian bonds would be discussed at a meeting in Italy Friday between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy and Italian PM Mario Monti.

Greek political parties, excluding leftist Syriza, will form a government today, just in time to avoid having to call another election.

Gold bullion prices retreated and were down 1.5% on the week so far ahead of the close of the FOMC meeting, BullionVault reported.

“We think Bernanke will talk up the Fed’s readiness to act if required, and there is a chance of a policy gesture — an extension to Operation Twist perhaps,” BullionVault quoted Nick Trevethan, Singapore-based senior metals strategist at Australia’s ANZ Bank. “But anybody looking for some sort of grand [quantitative easing] scheme risks disappointment.”

Gold and silver trusts were headed lower Wednesday morning.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was showing losses of around 0.9%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was trading around 1% lower.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was down around 0.5%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were also moving lower.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was down around 1.4%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was down some 2.1%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was down around 0.1%.

Gold mining shares were showing morning losses Wednesday.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was nearly 1.8% lower.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was around 1.1% lower.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was down around 1.2%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was around 2.1% lower.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) was down some 3.15%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was showing losses of around 1.5%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was moving around the unchanged level.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) was around 2.65% lower.

Silver mining shares were showing losses, Pan American Silver the exception.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was down nearly 1.6%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was down between 0.6% and 0.8%.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was up around 1%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was down around 1.4.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down around 0.7%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.