5:00AM Gold and silver further their losses for a third session in a row.
Gold for February delivery finished down $1.20 at $617.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. March silver declined 45.5 cents, or 3.5%, to end at $12.525 an ounce, while March copper prices were among the few gainers in metals trading with the contract ending at $3.0295 a pound, up 1.3 cents. March palladium advanced 70 cents to close at $324.95 an ounce but January platinum dropped $2.40 to end at $1,102.10 an ounce.

Oil ands gas stocks fell sharply Monday across the board, pushed down by plunging oil and natural gas prices. Crude oil for January delivery ended down $1.22 at $62.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. January natural gas fell 33.4 cents, or 4.5%, to finish at $7.075 per million British thermal units after retreating to $7.04, the weakest levels of the contract since mid-February of 2005. January unleaded gasoline futures ended down 2.41 cents at $1.6622 a gallon and January heating oil shed 6.1 cents, or 3.4%, to close at $1.7207 a gallon.