gold and silver futures settled lower on wednesday after fitch ratings lowered the us governments credit rating tuesday evening following its warning it may do so earlier this year in the wake of the debtceiling fight in congress while the latest report shows the us economy saw a robust gain in privatesector jobs in july according to private payrolls processor adp gold prices pared gains to finish slightly lower on wednesday hurt by a stronger us dollar and rising treasury yields as investors assessed the fitch ratings decision to lower the us credit rating to aa from aaa not long after us markets closed on tuesday fitch ratings announced it had cut the us governments credit rating citing expected fiscal deterioration over the next few years and the erosion of governance exemplified by the standoff over raising the debt ceiling in may fitch had warned earlier this year that it was considering a downgrade following this decision only one of the three major ratings houses rates the us governments debt as toptier moodys investors service standard  poor global rating has dropped its aaa rating for the us back in 2011 seefitch cuts us credit rating heres what you need to know the decision had a mixed impact across us financial markets sinking stocks but leaving the us dollar and the yellow metal little changed meanwhile treasury yields rose on rising debt sale expectations the yield on the 30year treasury bxtmubmusd30y rose 6 basis points to 4165 from 4104 late tuesday tuesdays level was the highest since nov 9 according to dow jones market data the yield on the 10year treasury bxtmubmusd10y advanced 3 basis points to 4072 from 4048 tuesday afternoon see how fitch downgrade might impact treasurys 1 trillion thirdquarter borrowing plans the gold market is going to struggle as long as resteepening of the us curve continues the vix is rising and it seems wall street is getting nervous here said edward moya senior analyst at oanda in emailed commentary on wednesday the cboe volatility index rose 155 to 161 the highest level since may 31 according to factset data the ice us dollar index dxy rose 02 to 10255 on wednesday afternoon in us economic data the latest adp report shows the private sector payrolls rose by 278000 in may according to the payroll services firm adp on thursday this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal