Gold and Its ETFs Could Make History

The erratic shifts in the price of gold bullion has been keeping the streetTRACKS Gold Shares (GLD) exchange traded fund (ETF) on its toes as we wait to see what it’s going do next.

Prieur du Plessis at Minyanville says that just as traders were expecting a quiet holiday period, the price of gold jumped $15, putting it over the $800 level. du Plessis points out an interesting bit of trivia, too: gold has never in its history recorded a month-end price above $800. Will this month finally be gold’s chance to make some history?

The long-term trend is still up in the air, though, with both the bulls and the bears arguing their cases. Bulls say pressure on the U.S. dollar could keep the prices onward and upward; bears contend that record long speculator positions often lead to gold price corrections, as well as an upcoming seasonally weak period.

GLD is up 29.7% year to date and iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) is up 29.3%.