Gold exchange traded funds rallied nearly 2% on Tuesday in a midday spike as U.S. voters headed to the polls to determine the next president. The precious metal’s price rose by more than $30 an ounce to over $1,700 with some analysts saying the jump suggests gold traders are positioning for an Obama victory.
Mitt Romney has indicated he would fire Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, seen as the main architect behind the central bank’s quantitative easing programs.
Unprecedented stimulus from the Fed has weakened the dollar, stoked inflation concerns and helped fuel the rally in gold prices after the financial crisis.
Gold ETFs have been weakening since early October when Romney gained ground in the polls following the first presidential debate. [Gold ETFs and the Fiscal Cliff]
SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) was down over 5% for the trailing month before Tuesday’s rally. [Silver ETFs Fall Harder Than Gold]
“If Obama is reelected, that would be a boost for gold because it means continuity on U.S. public spending and Federal Reserve monetary policy,” said Nicolas Berge, a trader at hedge fund Absolute Capital Group, in a Reuters report.
Yet some analysts pointed out that gold could be moving on other factors, including some political events in Europe later this week.
“Traders said some investors who had bet on lower gold prices were closing out those bets on Tuesday ahead of a set of political and economic events that could rattle currency and commodity markets,” Dow Jones Newswires reports. “This week brings the U.S. presidential election, Greek austerity vote, European Central Bank interest rate decision, and China’s leadership transition.”
SPDR Gold Shares
Full disclosure: Tom Lydon’s clients own GLD.