February gold was last down $3.40 at $1,784.70 and March Comex silver was last down $0.31 at $22.82 an ounce.
The marketplace is less spooked about the new Omicron strain of Covid than it was Friday, but by no means can trader and investors attitudes be termed upbeat to start the trading week.
The general sell off in the raw commodity futures markets Friday, led by crude oil, has some wondering if the inflation scare has peaked.
Technically, February gold futures bulls still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage but have faded recently and need to show fresh power soon to keep alive a two-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart.
The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the September low of $21.46.
The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at the November low of 420.00 cents.