Gold Selloff Picking Up Steam

Precious metals took a big hit Tuesday, and some traders are scratching their heads as to why. Gold, in particular, saw selling pressure, falling nearly $50 an ounce from Monday’s high.

“There is absolutely no news that warrants this type of take-down in the precious metals,” said Capitol Commodity Services President Lannie Cohen. “This, in my opinion, will prove to be one of the most outstanding buying opportunities for the remainder of the year.”

On the other hand, Goldman Sachs released a note earlier this week reiterating its $1,050 price target for end of the year, representing more than a 20% decline from current levels.

“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,” said Jeffrey Currie, the lead analyst on the report and global head of Commodities Research in the Global Investment Research (GIR) Division at Goldman. “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 added.

Last year, he called gold a “slam-dunk sell” in 2014.

Morgan Stanley released a note earlier this month that said the firm expects the average price of the precious metal to decline for the next four quarters.

Jason Rotman, President of Lido Isle Advisors, believes news from the Labor Department that U.S. consumer prices rose 0.2% rather than the 0.1% economists expected caused sellers to “re-emerge, and recent gold longs to take profits.”

Consumer prices have risen an unadjusted 1.5% over the past 12 months, or 1.7% on a core basis.

“We believe the $1,300 level may be a magnet for the near term, as the gold market still could have an underlying bid due to international uncertainty with Ukraine,” Rotman added.