Gold has shown itself to be a "safe-haven asset" as gold-focused exchange traded funds (ETFs) are raking in the cash. Despite recent investor hesitation toward gold ETFs, they are here to stay, especially because they don’t have physical delivery. The ETFs themselves physically buy gold to back outstanding shares and then sell the gold when investors sell shares, reports Matt Whittaker for The Wall Street Journal. He explains that investors have been putting their money into gold ETFs to guard against political, economic and financial concerns. streetTracks Gold Shares (GLD) holds a record 16,571 ounces, valued at more than $11 billion. Bullion rose more than $700 an ounce, causing Canadian stocks to increase for the third time in four days, according to John Kipphoff for Bloomberg. Across the board, holdings in the gold ETFs have been rising:

• streetTracks Gold Shares Fund (GLD) – up 7.4% year-to-date
• iShares Comex Gold Trust (IAU) – up 6.8% year-to-date
• PowerShares DB Gold (DGL) – up 1.3% for the last three months as it was launched in early 2007. It invests in gold futures not the bullion.

Tags: DGL, GLD, IAU, Metals & Mining