From what the media is saying- it is stuff as down to earth as the weather forecasts which is driving the gold price (as gold price moves with the oil price) not so much all this geopolitical China/Iran speculation.
From Bloomberg today.....
Oil Jumps, Approaching $60, as Cold Weather Increases Fuel Use
By Mark Shenk
Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose, approaching $60 a barrel, on speculation that U.S. heating-oil inventories will drop because of a cold-weather system covering the eastern half of the country.
Home-heating demand in the Northeast, the region responsible for 80 percent of U.S. heating-oil use, will be 24 percent above normal for the next week, said Weather Derivatives, a forecaster in Belton, Missouri. U.S. supplies of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, probably fell 2.88 million barrels last week, a Bloomberg News survey showed.
``There's been a significant reversal in a number of supply and demand factors that pushed us lower in January,'' said Jason Schenker, an economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, North Carolina. ``The colder weather and increased distillate demand are major factors. OPEC output cuts and stronger-than-expected U.S. economic growth are also contributing to the rally.''
Crude oil for March delivery rose $1.13, or 1.9 percent, to $59.87 a barrel at 9:07 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $59.99, the highest intraday price since Jan. 3. Prices are 8.1 percent lower than a year ago.
``Yesterday was probably the peak of this cold snap but today won't be much better,'' said Eric Wilhelm, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. ``Yesterday most of the I-95 corridor only got into the teens.''
Interstate-95 is a highway that connects the major cities of the Northeast U.S. from Washington to Boston.
``Things may moderate in the next few days but not by a lot,'' Wilhelm said. ``I don't see any warmer-than-normal temperatures in the Northeast or Midwest for the next week.''
The National Weather Service predicted that below-normal temperatures will persist in the eastern half of the U.S. except Florida through Feb. 19.
Brent crude oil for March settlement rose $1.24, or 2.1 percent, to $59.34 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures exchange.