Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) have been quiet lately, drowned out by the ruckus oil has been causing. But in trading today, futures jumped at points by as much as $33 an ounce.
The price of gold is now trading at its highest level in more than a month, while silver futures have also shot up more than 4% to a one-week high. One coin and precious metal retailer says that these are typically slow months for metals, but the markets are so unstable that gold has become "the surefire store of value commodity."
The gold rally began yesterday when the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, while saying that the upside risks to inflation have increased, report Polya Lesova and Myra P. Saefong for MarketWatch. The fact that inflation isn’t letting up has got investors once again seeking out those safe havens.
Tim Paradis for the Associated Press says investors are also seeking out Treasury bonds.
Oil is up today, to $138.58, while the Dow Jones industrial average sank midday to levels below its 2008 trading low.
Metals-related ETFs are among the strongest-performing funds so far today:
- SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), up 6% year-to-date
- PowerShares DB Gold (DGL), up 4.4% year-to-date
- iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU), up 6.1% year-to-date
- iShares Silver Trust (SLV), up 13.1% year-to-date
- Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX), down 4.3% year-to-date
- PowerShares DB Precious Metals Fund (DBP), up 5.7% year-to-date
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.