Goldman Stands by $1,050 Gold Target on Outlook for Recovery

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By Glenys Sim Apr 14, 2014 7:48 AM ET

Gold will resume a decline as U.S. economic growth accelerates, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which reiterated a forecast for the metal to end the year at $1,050 an ounce.

Bullion’s rally this year was spurred by poor U.S. data probably linked to the weather and rising tension in Ukraine, analysts led by Jeffrey Currie wrote in a report, describing the reasons as transient. With the tapering of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying program, U.S. economic releases will return as the driving force behind lower prices, he wrote.

Gold’s 12-year bull run ended in 2013 as the Fed prepared to reduce monthly bond-buying that fueled gains in asset prices while failing to stoke inflation. Prices rose 10 percent this year even as the Fed cut purchases, with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and mixed U.S. economic data boosting haven demand. Last year, Currie described gold as a “slam-dunk sell” for 2014.

“It would require a significant sustained slowdown in U.S. growth for us to revisit our expectation for lower gold prices over the next two years,” Currie wrote in the report, dated yesterday. “While further escalation in tensions could support gold prices, we expect a sequential acceleration in both U.S. and Chinese activity, and hence for gold prices to decline.”

Gold for immediate delivery traded 0.3 percent higher at $1,322.01 an ounce at 7:43 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing, after the United Nations Security Council met to address the Ukraine crisis. Bullion last traded below $1,050 an ounce in February 2010.