By Jerry Kronenberg
Gold gained ground and oil rose some 5% Tuesday after Iran fired missiles on Israel amid growing Middle East tensions.
$Crude Oil Futures(NOV4) (CLmain.US)$ for November delivery shot up as much as 5.5% to a $71.94 intraday peak after Iran launched a reported 200 or so missiles against the Jewish state.
Media reports indicated that explosions were heard in Israel’s major city of Tel Aviv, although there were no immediate reports of fatalities. However, a separate Tel Aviv terrorist attack left six Israelis dead.
The Iranian missile attack comes amid growing hostilities in the region, beginning with last October’s attack on Israel by the Iranian-backed Hamas militia in Gaza. Iranian-allied Hezbollah has also been firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon.
Israel retaliated recently by killing a Hamas leader, detonating exploding pagers held by Hezbollah militants and killing Hezbollah’s chief via an airstrike in Lebanon.
Middle East tensions historically send oil prices rising on fears that any conflict will disrupt energy production and shipments.
Meanwhile, Comex gold for December delivery rose as much as 1.3% to a $2.694.70 intraday high Tuesday following word of the Iran missiles. Gold historically gains ground in a "flight to quality" any time the world sees geopolitical tensions.
