Investment house chief: $2k-plus for gold well within reach
The value of gold will push past the psychological price of $2,000 per troy ounce by the end of this year or early next year, the president of an investment house told Yahoo.
Despite having lost roughly 16 percent of its value since setting a record high price of $1,923.70 per troy ounce in early September 2011, the yellowish metal will surpass that value, Paul Schatz with Heritage Capital told the news source. With prices hovering around $1,650 per troy ounce these days, those gains would represent a 21 percent increase.
Reductions since September from that record price are "shaking out every weak-handed holder possible," Schatz told the news source, noting the end of the downward drive is within sight. "But I think it's going to bottom some time this quarter."
He noted the drivers of the yellowish metal's uptick will be worldwide central banks deploying accommodative monetary policy, which might prompt key performance indicators. He acknowledged that the U.S. Federal Reserve appears to be in the tail end of that effort but its counterparts in Europe and Japan are embarking on the process.
Further, real interest rates in the U.S. are low, with thanks to the policy of the U.S. Federal Reserve. That makes the yellowish metal's luster even more brilliant, he said.
But, additional losses are likely, he said, predicting the bottom will be somewhere north of $1,500 per troy ounce. But, thereinafter, bullion will drive toward that $2,000 per troy ounce figure.
"I don't think we're going to stop there," Schatz said. "That sets stage for next run. Is it $2,200, $2,300?"