The price of physical gold fell more than $20 per ounce Tuesday morning despite a greater-than-expected increase in September U.S. producer prices — another sign that inflation is building up in the supply chain. Gold traditionally has been a hedge against rising inflation. Slower growth in China and Europe is likely to put a lid on further increases in inflation, however, according to several economists.

Spot gold was bid at $1,638.80 with an ask price of $1,639.80 early Tuesday. The morning high as of this writing was $1,648.10 and the low was $1,626.10, according to Kitco market data. The London p.m. reference price was set at $1,631 per ounce.

Spot silver was trading at $31.22 Bid, $31.32 Ask, having hit a morning high of $31.32 and a low of $30.47. Today’s reference price was set at $31 in the London a.m.

On the stock exchanges, gold and silver trusts were sharply lower.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was more than 2% lower.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was down around 2%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was down about 2.74%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs also were moving lower.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was 2.9% lower.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was more than 2.1% lower.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was down nearly 2.3%.

Shares of gold miners were heading south, NovaGold Resources again the exception.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (USA) (NYSE:AEM) was around 2.5% lower.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was down some 2.4%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was down around 2.3%.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was nearly 2.2% lower.
• NovaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) was showing gains of around 0.4%.

Silver miners’ shares were showing the biggest losses for the second consecutive morning.

• Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was around 1% lower.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) also was down more than 1%.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was about 2.9% lower.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) was down more than 4.3%.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down nearly 4%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks.