How To Trade Gold During This Election Week

A number of new polls show the 2016 presidential election race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is tightening heading into the final days of the campaign. If there’s one thing that financial markets don't like, it's uncertainty, and the election seems to be providing more than enough.

Stocks have understandably struggled as the race has tightened, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY is now down 2.9 percent in the past month alone. However, defensive safe-haven investments like gold have been on fire. Investors looking to hedge against the financial market fallout from a potential Trump victory have been pouring into gold and gold ETFs.

In the past five trading sessions, the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) GLD is up 2.3 percent, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF GDX is up 6.4 percent and the Direxion Shares Exchange Traded Fund Trust NUGT is up 19.8 percent.

Between now and November 8, gold and gold and gold stocks will likely continue to trade up and down in-line with Trump’s poll numbers. A Clinton victory coupled with Republicans maintaining control of Congress would likely be seen as good news for stocks and bad news for gold.

A pair of new polls on Thursday by CBS News/New York Times and ABC/Washington Post show Clinton with a 2-3 point lead over Trump. New polls by the LA Times/USC and Rasmussen Reports give Trump a 3-5 point lead.

The latest IBD/TIPP Tracking poll shows the race a dead tie.