Actually FWIW (if you are into crystal ball gazing) and look at the Bloomberg Survey for 2009 and then the LBMA Forecasts for 2008. Frederic Panizzutti from MKS Finance S.A. was nearest the mark for 2008. He predicts an avge of more than $900US.
These were his comments for last year as per the LBMA website:
Frederic Panizzutti In 2007, gold rose over 30%. From a less predictable scenario over the last 2 years, mainly due to geopolitical tensions, the market now shifted into a more rational and forecastable environment. The prevailing factors this year remain a weaker USD, the subprime crisis and further diversifications by both the official and private sectors. We expect the USD to weaken further on the back of slower growth and broader disinvestment out of the USD into assets which are negatively correlated to the USD and/or not sensitive to the performance of the US economy. The spreading impact of the subprime crisis remains a major concern and the collateral damages will unfortunately be far-reaching, spread globally and impact several sectors affecting global liquidity. Furthermore various central banks have expressed their intention to reduce some of their USD exposure and to consider an increase of their gold reserves. These factors, amongst others, should lead to additional capital inflow into gold as a safe haven. Several volatile trading sessions with erratic moves are ahead of us, and we would not be surprised to see gold moving briefly above the 1,000 level.
http://www.lbma.org.uk/pubs/forecasts
This year he says so far:
“People fear inflation, they fear the credit crunch and they fear currency losses, and gold is the perfect insurance against all of that,” said Frederic Panizzutti, a senior vice president at Geneva-based bullion refiner MKS Finance SA, who forecasts gold will average more than $900 in the first half of 2009.
http://www.bloombergnews.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=a1C1lhTmTaFo&refer=home
