Precious metal futures, often considered 'safe havens' for investors, are jumping up ahead of the weekend--with traders attempting to mitigate their risk in the event of the mideast conflict heightening.

"Gold is trading sharply higher today as the escalation of the Israeli-Hamas conflict ahead of the weekend is behind the climb," says Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities. "The outlook for the metal is aggressively turning positive."

Gold futures are up 2.8% at $1,936 an ounce, while silver is up 3.9% to $22.825 an ounce.