[Investor Place] Gold trading in the $1,720s, silver around $37 early Thursday.

Gold prices fell Thursday morning in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it will implement “Operation Twist” to help hold down long-term interest rates and stimulate lending and borrowing. August U.S. leading economic indicators rose 0.3%, pointing to faster growth going into year-end. Weekly jobless claims dropped but remained above 400,000.

Spot gold was bid at $1,726.40 with an ask price of $1,727.40, more than 3% lower, having hit a morning high of $1,731.60 and a low of $1,725.30, according to Kitco market data. The price of an ounce of gold for spot delivery was fixed in the London afternoon at $1,722 by the LBMA.

Spot silver was trading at $36.74 Bid, $36.84 Ask, down more than 7.25%, with a morning high of $37 and a low of $36.58. The spot silver reference price was fixed at $37.85 per ounce in the London a.m.

Gold and silver trusts were sharply lower in exchange trading Thursday morning.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was off around 2.9%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was down about the same.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was showing losses of about 6.4%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were falling sharply as well.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was around 5.7% lower.
• The Market Vector Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was down about 7.7%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was off 7.8%.

Shares of gold miners were plunging.

• Agnico Eagle Mines (USA) (NYSE:AEM) was down 4.9%.
• Barrick Gold Corp. (NYSE:ABX) was showing losses of more than 7.3%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was more than 6% lower.
• Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was down nearly 3.5%.
• No vaGold Resources (USA) (AMEX:NG) was off more than 8.5%.

Silver miners’ shares were plummeting as well.

• Coeur D’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE:CDE) was more than 7.4% lower.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was down more than 5.5%.
• Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS) was off nearly 8.9%.
• Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW) was showing losses of around 8.5%.
• Silver Standard Resources Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ:SSRI) was down around 8%.

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