Even without the Labor Day holiday this Monday in the U.S., Ukraine would be giving precious metals traders big problems. The key is that no one can decide whether it's a big problem or just a big headache.

President Obama just finished addressing the twin crises in Ukraine and the Middle East in the White House press room. It's no wonder that gold and silver are up today on haven demand. Risk was off around the globe in equities.

No, that's not a typo, although it's understandable you might think we meant "physical."

The Congressional Budget Office said today that the U.S. economy will end up growing a paltry 1.5% for the year. Some ascribe most of that weakness to a particularly harsh winter in the United States.

It is ironic that on a day when Tsar Vladimir Putin is shaking hands with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, gold is deriving strength from the crisis atmosphere in the eastern section of Ukraine.

Of course it is no wonder that tensions are rising. U.S. officials close to the situation have said a few large mouthfuls:

As the United States developed, it blocked spawning by salmon, and other fish, who had to make their way upriver to complete their life cycles.

Gold is facing a number of dams as it makes its way upstream. Some are probably temporary, some are structural, perhaps permanently.

Let's start with the temporary.

Let's go directly to what the Chairwoman of the Fed said:

The second of a one-two punch today - the drop in weekly jobless claims - was all that gold could take. It's off today over 1%.

Other people may be taking the ALS fund-raising ice-water bath challenge, but gold bulls got plenty of cold water dumped on them.

Fastening their claws onto one short phrase of the Fed in the FOMC minutes released today, some traders read it as a sign that interest rate hikes will arrive sooner rather than later.

The phrase was:

Gold is still hewing tightly to its range, buffeted by contradictory economic trends born of the uneven, yet persistent U.S. recovery. In fact, it can be safely said that, given the economic troubles in Europe and the credit crunch in China, the U.S. is carrying the world recovery on its back.
 

Gold has been mired in a range, or two sets of ranges recently. But, the strength the yellow metal is showing in the face of lowered world tensions and in the face of renewed risk appetite for equities is quite impressive.

What are the reasons behind both the range-bound nature of the market and gold's resilience? The two seem at odds with each other at first glance.