Upbeat long term?Despite Monday's retreat in metals prices, "...

Upbeat long term?
Despite Monday's retreat in metals prices, " nobody should label today's events as an 'exodus' from precious metals or the start of a bear trend," said Jon Nadler, an investment products analyst at bullion dealers Kitco.com.
The day's weakness is "simply a reflection of profit taking by funds, a bit of a stronger dollar (though the fundamentals of it have not changed) and perhaps a return to a more seasonally normal, and more placid gold market (post Indian wedding season)," he said.
Given that gold rose around $200 in a very short time and almost in a vertical line, "it should come as no surprise that even a 50% retracement of such a move could be underway," he said.
Most likely, gold will "stabilize at comfortable levels," with the pauses found anywhere in the $620 to $720 range at this time, Nadler said.
It's important to note, however, that "some type of negative news coming from the oil markets, Iran, the Fed, the U.S. equities sector -- any currently unforeseen 'wild card' impact factor" could put an abrupt end to this period of consolidation, he said.
CIBC analyst Barry Cooper said he expects gold prices to "pause and possibly pull back by 10%" in the near term during the typically quiet summer period.
Over the long term, however, Cooper said he sees prices continuing higher and expects an average price of $730 to $735 an ounce for the rest of 2006. For 2007, he lifted his price forecast to $850 an ounce from $650.