Gold A Safe Haven Again?

One day does not mark the start of a new trend, but it's still must be viewed as encouraging that gold found a way to climb higher on a day when glum headlines out of Spain ruled the roost. On a day fraught with headline risk and catalysts that would usually drive gold lower, Comex gold for August delivery added $14.70, or 1%, to settle at $1,565.70 a troy ounce. Impressive was still was gold's move higher in the face of a stronger dollar. The PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE: UUP) gained 0.8% and closed at a new 52-week high. Gold did trade as low as $1,532.10 a troy ounce today and that's where buyers stepped in, indicating there was some technical buying in addition to the safe haven run. Traders noted that gold's rebound came on a day when equities, crude oil and other commodities tumbled, while the dollar and U.S. Treasuries rallied on jitters about the mounting Euro Zone debt crisis, Reuters reported.

Still, barring a major miracle, gold will close May with a loss and as of today the yellow metal's monthly loss stands at 6%, it's worst one-month run since December 2011. Gold's upside was enough to send the iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU) up by two-thirds of a percent while the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) added almost 0.6%.

Silver was a surprise winner as the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) added two cents. Two cents may not sound like much, but for SLV to close higher at all on a day when stocks, oil and nearly every other riskier asset under the sun was badly beaten is a positive sign. SLV is still clinging to a small year-to-date gain.

There were some other surprises in the precious metals complex as the other white metals were mixed on the day, not down decisively as one might have expected. Platinum futures closed slightly lower dragging the ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (NYSE: PPLT) to a loss of 1.8% on nearly double the average daily volume. PPLT continues to inch closer to its 52-week low at $133. Surprising was the 0.8% gain on above average turnover for the ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (NYSE: PALL).

As riskier assets and sectors were shunned today, miners were left vulnerable. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL) gave up 1.5%, that fund's worst performance since last week. Give credit to the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX), which added a third of a percent on strong volume. The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ) retreated 1.6% and is having trouble breaking resistance at $20.