Gold prices and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are soaring after the government bailed out American Insurance Group (AIG) and the dollar fell.

The largest gold ETF shot up 11.6% along with prices – the biggest one-day gain ever. Investors are fearing more tightening of the credit markets, and they’re reacting quickly, says Stevenson Jacobs for the Associated Press.

Gold is attractive at times like these, because it’s known for holding its value.

Among other commodities, oil rebounded after several days of losses, while heating oil and gas futures both fell. Among agriculture commodities, most grain prices are trading higher, while soybeans fell slightly.

Affected ETFs include:

• SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), up 3.8% year-to-date
• United States Heating Oil (UHN), up 14.7% since April 10 inception
• United States Gasoline (UGA), down 3.2% since Feb. 28 inception
• PowerShares DB Oil (DBO), up 6.3% year-to-date
• PowerShares DB Agriculture (DBA), down 0.8% year-to-date
• E-TRACS UBS Bloomberg CMCI Food (FUD), down 11.7% since April 4 inception

Meanwhile, while the dollar rose yesterday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady, today it’s fallen back some against both the yen and euro, reports Elaine Fei for Investment Markets. The dollar was also hurt by news about the housing market, which stated that home construction had fallen to its slowest pace in 17 years.

The PowerShares DB U.S. Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) is up 3.1% year-to-date.

For full disclosure, some of Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of UUP.

Tags: Agriculture, DBA, DBO, Energy, FUD, GLD, Gold, Heating Oil, Precious Metals, UGA, UHN, UUP