On Thursday, gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for June delivery increased $16 to settle at $1,630.10 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures jumped 69 cents to close at $31.73.

Both precious metals received a bid after yesterday’s steep decline. Gold and silver even climbed higher as the U.S. dollar (NYSE:UUP) index increased. The greenback rose to as high as 80.18, its highest level against the euro since December. Spanish yields continue to give investors a reason to worry about the euro zone.

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Yields on Spanish 10-year government bonds increased to about 5.8 percent. Alan Wilde, head of fixed income and currency at Barings, explained, “This has been a bad week for Spanish and Italian bond markets and does lead to worries that yields could go on rising. ECB loans have helped sentiment, but the effects may be waning,” according to Financial Times.

In afternoon trading, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) increased .65 percent, while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) gained 1.5 percent. Gold miners (NYSEARCA:GDX) such as Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) and Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE:GG) both fell about 1.4 percent. Silver investments such as Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE:SLW) and Silvercorp Metals Inc. (NYSE:SVM) declined 1.15 percent and 1.55 percent, respectively.

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Disclosure: Long EXK, AG, HL, PHYS

To contact the reporter on this story: Eric McWhinnie at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com