Gold Rises, Still Below $1,600 An Ounce

New York, May 10th (TradersHuddle.com) - By the skin of its teeth, gold snapped a six-day losing streak and while it can be said gains are gains, it's hard to be enthusiastic gold's gains today. Comex gold for June delivery added just $1.30, or 0.1%, to end at $1,595.50 an ounce. Traders took a break, sort of, from fretting about the Euro Zone's obvious woes, but the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (NYSE: UUP) found its way to a modestly higher finish on the day. Traders seemed to embrace gold's risk asset properties on the back of some decent U.S. economic data news. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 367,000 to last week. Economists expected a reading of 368,000. The yellow metal also got a lift from some modestly bullish from Goldman Sachs.

Despite its recent downturn, gold is not losing its luster "as the currency of last resort," analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a report, MarketWatch reported. The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU) and the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD) each rose by 0.2% on the day. Again, gains are gains, but GLD and IAU, the two largest ETFs backed by physical gold, were both home to anemic volume today.

The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) spent much of the day trading higher, though not by much, and when sellers came into the market late day, sending the largest ETF backed by silver lower on the day by half a percent on volume that was weak. SLV now rests less than $3 above its 52-week low and remains technically challenged. Chinese economic data was cumbersome as exports from the world's second-largest economy jumped 4.9% last month, well below the increase of 8.5% economists expected. Surprisingly, copper futures rose following that news. The iPath DJ-UBS Copper TR Sub-Index ETN (NYSE: JJC) climbed half a percent while the Global X Copper Miners ETF (NYSE: COPX) jumped a quarter of a percent.

A Chinese automaker trade group reported higher-than-expected passenger car sales in April, climbing up 12.5% on year to 1.28 million units, according to Market Watch. That data point was modestly supportive for the ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (NYSE: PALL), which added a quarter of a percent on light volume. The ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (NYSE: PPLT) fell 0.7%.

Miners saw modest, though much needed gains as the Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL) added half a percent on weak volume, but that ETF remains below the all-important $20 area. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) climbed 0.16% on heavy volume. The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ) impressed a bit with a gain of 1.2%, but this could be nothing more than a dead cat bounce for that embattled ETF.