Goldman Sachs: Gold will drop $200 by end of year

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery on Thursday continued to drift lower, trading at a near 3-month low.

In afternoon trade gold was changing hands for $1,266.00 an ounce, down more than $4 an ounce compared to yesterday’s closing price.

The latest retreat in the price pares the metal’s gains for the year to under 5%.

The 2014 low for gold is $1,244 reached June 2, but many analysts believe the gold price has much further to fall.

On Thursday Goldman Sachs said it’s sticking to its original forecast of gold at $1,050 an ounce by the end of the year.

CNBC quotes chief commodity strategist at the investment bank Jeffrey Currie as saying safe haven buying on the back of the Iraq and the Ukraine-Russia crisis and money printing due to economic weakness in Europe and Japan have been supporting gold somewhat, “but prices are being pressured by Federal Reserve policy.”

“Our target at the end of this year is $1,050, really driven by the view that we think that the Fed will ultimately be the dominate force here and put more downward pressure [on prices],” Currie told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “Gold is a hedge against a debasement in the U.S. dollar.” He said he’d recommend shorting gold.

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