Goldman Sachs: Gold could drop to $1,000

By Haslinda Amin & Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Bloomberg News

1000-160Gold is poised to extend declines as the U.S. Federal Reserve withdraws stimulus and economic data improve, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which says that there’s a risk that bullion may drop below $1,000 an ounce. Futures retreated in New York.

While debt-ceiling discussions in the U.S. and the Syrian crisis may support bullion in the near term, gold will resume its decline into next year, Jeffrey Currie, head of commodities research, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television today. The bank’s target for 2014 is $1,050, and the commodity may overshoot to the downside, Currie said in Singapore. Gold futures haven’t traded below $1,000 since October 2009.

Bullion has dropped 22 percent this year as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value, the U.S. economyimproved and stocks and the dollar rallied. The Fed will pare its $85 billion a month bond-buying program next week, according to a Bloomberg survey. Earlier this year, Currie issued a sell recommendation on bullion on April 10, before gold plunged 13 percent in a two-session slump that ended April 15.

Continue reading . . .