Gold still Morgan Stanley’s top commodities pick

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) maintains its bullish stance on gold and expects the precious metal to rise robustly over the next several quarters.

Business Insider reports
that the storied finance institution expects gold to perform well on the back of the world’s current economic woes and aggressive monetary expansion plans recently unveiled by the US Federal Reserve.

The adoption of QE3 is positive for gold, and reinforces our long-held bullish view on the metal. In a significant monetary policy development, the Fed’s move was not only supportive of risk assets in general but is likely to undermine the value of the USD, diminishing a key headwind to higher gold prices evident in 1H 2012.

Recent Fed action is a game changer for gold. The size and strength of the recent upside move in gold is reflective of decisively changed perceptions of Fed policy going forward, in our view. Effectively, QE3 for as long as it takes and close to zero interest rates for another three years is, we contend, markedly different from Operation Twist and only two more years of ultra low rates. The Fed also made it clear that it would pursue easy monetary policy “for a considerable time” even after the economy strengthened.

Morgan Stanley analysts expect gold to rise to $1,750/ounce in Q4 and maintain an average of $1,816/ounce next year.

Read more>>