Gold falls to its lowest level since July

UNDATED (AP) — Gold closed Wednesday at the lowest level in more than five months.

Gold for February delivery fell almost 2 percent, losing $31.40 to end at $1,564.10 an ounce. That's the lowest closing price since July 12. Silver fell even more sharply, by 5 percent.

Gold has been dropping for the last month, partly because of signs the U.S. economy is growing more strongly than had been expected. Many traders bought gold out of fear of weakness in the U.S., but now money is flowing into riskier investments like stocks.

Gold is down 10 percent from the beginning of December.