Gold Wraps Up Miserable May

May 2012 is not going to be remembered fondly by oil bulls or those that were long stocks. Add gold bugs to that list. COMEX gold for August delivery slid $1.50, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,564.20 a troy ounce on Thursday, concluding a month that saw futures for the yellow metal slide 6.1%. This marks the biggest monthly percentage drop in gold since December 2011, when prices fell 10.5% on the month, according to the Wall Street Journal. For those keeping score at home, May 2012 was the worst May performance for gold in 30 years. Europe and the faltering euro have a lot to do with that. During the now completed month, traders appeared to become resigned to the fact that Greece is on its way out of the Euro Zone and that may prove to be a decent deal over the long-term.

More problematic though is that Spain, Euro Zone's fourth-largest economy, is in deep trouble with an unemployment rate north of 20% and a banking system desperately in need of a bailout. Earlier this week, ratings agency Egan-Jones took Spain's credit rating deeper into junk status, inflicting further pressure on the euro in the process. With the euro residing below $1.24, many traders think $1.20 is the next stopping point.

Still, traders are saying they're seeing hints of gold's safe have status being restored. The restoration of that safe haven status could be tried on Friday with what is expected to be a lukewarm May jobs report. Thursday's jobs data does not bode well for an upside surprise tomorrow.

In economic news, the ADP private payroll survey showed non-government employers added 133,000 new jobs last month, below the 148,000 new jobs economists expected. The Commerce Department's latest reading of U.S. first-quarter GDP came in at 1.9%, below the 2.2% increase seen in last month's reading.

The Institute for Supply Management's Chicago-area business index dropped to 52.7 from 56.2 in April. That's the lowest reading since September 2009. First-time jobless claims rose to 383,000 last week from 373,000 in the previous week. Economists expected a reading of 370,000 new claims. The less volatile four-week moving average increased to 374,500 from 370,750. Ahead of Friday's non-farm payroll report, today's jobs data was not a good sign. The May jobs number is expected to show the addition of 150,000 new jobs, but it appears it's reasonable a miss of that number.

The only good thing about a disappointment regarding the May jobs report, and it's a stretch, would be that it might force the Federal Reserve's hand and lead to another round of quantitative easing. The miners might need as they were back to their losing ways on Thursday. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE: SIL) fell 1.5% while the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDX) gave up 1%. The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE: GDXJ) slid 1.5%.